Abortion

Lord Alton of Liverpool: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answers by Earl Howe on 17 January 2012 (WA 122), 17 December 2012, (WA 267-8) and on 29 January (WA 229), when they will be able to determine whether the inability to find evidence for sex-selective abortion in England and Wales has been due to either the absence of such evidence or flaws in analysis of data by officials from the Department of Health; what consideration they have given to the issues raised by Simpson’s paradox in using data averaged over the entire national population; whether it is possible to determine gender before 16 weeks’ gestation; and, if not, what other explanation they can provide for reports of sex-selective abortions if no abortions are taking place at a later gestational age than is officially recorded.
	To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answers by Earl Howe on 29 January (WA 229-30), when they expect that officials from the Department of Health will be able to report that they have understood the potential uses of the methodology employed by academics at Imperial College London.

Lord Wallace of Saltaire: Previous analysis on gender ratios at birth, carried out by the Department based on birth registrations, found that when broken down by the mothers’ country of birth, no group is statistically different from the range that we would expect to see naturally occurring. Given the large natural variation in gender ratios, large sample sizes are required to give tests of suitable power. Breaking down birth data by country of mothers’ birth leads to small sample sizes. Consequently, to ensure tests of statistical significance had reasonable power, the Department’s analysis used data that was aggregated to a national level and across the five most recent years. As analysis at sub-national level was not practical, the issues raised by Simpson’s paradox were similarly not of practical relevance. The analysis was quality assured by statisticians at the Office for National Statistics.
	It is usually possible to identify the sex of a baby at the second ultrasound scan, which takes place at around 18-21 weeks gestation. In 2012, 97.6% of abortions were performed on residents of England and Wales before 18 weeks gestation.
	We are clear that abortion on the grounds of gender alone is against the law. Antenatal sexing of the fetus is not a routine part of antenatal care. Scans are undertaken to support the clinical care of the mother and unborn baby. Disclosing the sex of a fetus is a local decision and should be based on clinical judgment
	about the certainty of the assessment and the individual circumstances of each case. Data on the gender of aborted foetuses is not collected.
	The analysis recently reported in the Independent newspaper is based on Census data for households with usually resident dependent children. The gender balance of dependent children in these households is affected by a number of events that occur after birth, such as the age at which dependent children leave the parental home. As there are a number of alternative explanations for these observations, it cannot be concluded from the Independent’s analysis that sex-selective abortions are taking place. The best available data on which to base gender ratio analysis continues to be births data and this was used in the analysis published by the Department in May 2013.

Abortion

Lord Alton of Liverpool: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answers by Earl Howe on 17 January 2012 (WA 122) and 29 January (WA 229) and by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Public Health, Jane Ellison, on 13 January (HC Deb, col 403W), how they would determine whether abortions were taking place at a later gestational age than is officially recorded; and to what extent their ability to investigate that practice might be compromised by the proportion of abortions undertaken without the doctor meeting the person seeking to abort their baby.

Earl Howe: The gestational age of a fetus must be accurately assessed prior to an abortion taking place. This is important as different abortion methods are appropriate at different gestations. Gestation can be assessed through ultra sound scanning, pelvic examination and/or date of last menstrual period. Gestation is recorded on form HSA4 by the terminating clinician. It is a mandatory requirement that the HSA4 form is submitted to the Chief Medical Officer and the terminating practitioner must certify “to the best of my knowledge the particulars on this form are correct”. If any evidence came to light that practitioners were falsifying information on HSA4 forms this would be reported to the General Medical Council to investigate, which could result in disciplinary procedures.

Agriculture: Deaths and Injuries

Lord Kennedy of Southwark: To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many deaths and serious injuries have occurred in agriculture in each year since 2000.

Lord Freud: The number of deaths and serious injuries that have occurred in agriculture since 2000 are as follows:
	
		
			 Year 2000/01 2001/02 2002/ 2003/04 2004/05 2005/06 2006/07 
			 Deaths 53 41 38 50 40 41 40 
		
	
	
		
			 Serious injuries 655 675 602 504 518 481 416 
		
	
	
		
			 Year 2007/08 2008/09 2009/10 2010/11 2011/12 2012/13p 2013/14p (to date) 
			 Deaths 48 30 44 42 41 36 34 
			 Serious injuries 470 488 537 422 434 438 n/a 
		
	
	These figures are compiled using data reported under The Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (RIDDOR). There is a degree of underreporting of serious injuries with RIDDOR data. The estimated RIDDOR reporting level of serious injuries for workers in the agricultural, forestry and fishing industry is 16%.
	Figures for the 2012/13 and 2013/14 are provisional and will be subject to further checking before being finalised for publication. Serious injury data for 2013/14 to data is not yet available.

Agriculture: Funding

Lord Kennedy of Southwark: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what research they are currently funding into improving yields in arable farming.

Lord De Mauley: In 2011/12 the Government funded approximately £450 million on agriculture and food related research, and in 2013 the Agricultural Technologies Strategy secured a further £160 million to accelerate innovation by UK food and farming businesses.
	It is not possible to give separate figures for research into improvement of yields in arable farming as this is supported by a wide range of advances in knowledge and technology. Key ongoing research programmes in this area include:
	• the £90 million Technology Strategy Board’s Sustainable Agriculture and Food Innovation Platform, • Defra’s Food and Farming research programmes (which can be searched at: http://randd.defra.gov.uk/), • The £50 million p.a. Scottish Government’s Strategic Research Programmes for Rural Affairs and the Environment, http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Research/About/EBAR/StrategicResearch/future-research-strategy)• Research funded through the Research Councils (whose programmes can be searched via: http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk/).
	Research funders across Government coordinate many of their activities through the Global Food Security Programme (http://www.foodsecurity.ac.uk ), and the UK Plant Health evidence group.

Agriculture: Genetically Modified Crops

The Countess of Mar: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the findings by Testbiotech published on 8 February which stated that genetically engineered maize 1507 exhibited “huge variations in the amounts of Bt toxin in the plants, and further shows that 1507 maize plants are neither homogenous nor predictable”; and whether they will continue to support the introduction of the variety to the European Union.

Lord De Mauley: A proposal to authorise the planting of 1507 maize was discussed at the European Union (EU) General Affairs Council on 11 February. The UK indicated its support for authorisation, given the favourable scientific opinions of the European Food Safety Authority and the UK Advisory Committee on Releases to the Environment. Variations in the level of Bt protein are to be expected and are not in themselves a cause for concern. Whilst the protein level could have a bearing on the potential for pest resistance and theoretically on the risk to non-target Lepidoptera, these considerations have been adequately addressed by the risk-management measures that will be provided for in the EU authorising decision. The herbicide glufosinate will not be used on 1507 maize crops in the EU, so its effect on Bt protein levels is not a factor in this context.

Agroforestry

Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer: To ask Her Majesty’s Government , in the light of the funding available under Article 23 of Pillar II of the Common Agricultural Policy (2014–20) under the Rural Development Programme (RDP) for the establishment and management of agroforestry systems, whether they have decided that they will adopt agroforestry measures as part of the RDP in England.

Lord De Mauley: I refer the noble Baroness to my previous answer of 21 January 2014, Official Report column WA 93-94.

Agroforestry

Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the impact of agroforestry on productivity, ecology and mitigating climate change, including managing water and silt flow and helping mitigate flooding.

Lord De Mauley: In 2012 Natural England commissioned the Organic Research Centre and Abacus Organic Associates to consider the potential benefits of Agroforestry and any need for support under the
	RDPE. We have considered the report “Can Agroforestry Deliver Production and Environmental Benefits in the next Rural Development Programme?” as part of the considerable evidence portfolio for the design of a new environmental land management scheme .The department and its delivery bodies do fund a variety of research and demonstration projects to understand the potential of non-structural methods of reducing flooding, including afforestation. We will continue our research into understanding how woodland creation and tree planting can contribute to managing flood risk by working with natural processes.

Agroforestry

Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what examples of agroforestry schemes Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs officials have visited.

Lord De Mauley: Over the last twelve months officials from Defra Agencies have visited several agroforestry schemes in England, in particular in Oxfordshire and Cambridgeshire.

Agroforestry

Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether agroforestry will be selected from the European Union approved list as an Ecological Focus Area option for English farmers under the greening measures in Pillar II of the Common Agricultural Policy.

Lord De Mauley: Ecological Focus Areas in England will be delivered under the greening measures in Pillar I of the Common Agricultural Policy. The Government has not yet announced which of the Ecological Focus Areas will be permitted in England. Discussions are continuing with stakeholders on this issue, with a view to making announcements shortly.

Apprenticeships

Lord Taylor of Warwick: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to create more apprenticeships and opportunities for school leavers in order to help start their careers.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: Apprenticeships are jobs with high quality training. The number of Apprenticeship vacancies is determined by the number of employers offering them.
	We are committed to increasing the number of Apprenticeships offered by employers through investing almost £1.5bn in Apprenticeship training this year; improving quality across the programme to better meet employers and individuals needs.
	We are also making it as easy and rewarding as possible for employers to take on an apprentice. The Apprenticeship Grant for Employers offers £1,500 payment to smaller businesses to take on a young person
	aged 16-24. In addition, the National Apprenticeship Service has made it simpler and faster to recruit an apprentice via their website.
	Apprenticeship reforms will put employers in the driving seat giving them the opportunity to lead the way in developing and implementing new Apprenticeships in their sectors, making it easier for them to offer more Apprenticeships in future.

Armed Forces: Ex-Officers

Lord Burnett: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the process for allowing former middle-ranking officers of the armed forces to rejoin.

Lord Astor of Hever: Middle-ranking officers are able to apply to rejoin the Service they left and return to the same trade/specialisation. Decisions are made on a case-by-case basis and are dependent upon factors such as the Service need and the skill-set of the individual. If an individual seeks to rejoin a short time after leaving and has an in-date security clearance and medical category (usually within 12 months of leaving) then he or she can be fast-tracked through the recruiting and training process.

Armed Forces: Training

Baroness Tonge: To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many United Kingdom military personnel annually travel overseas to be trained in urban warfare or counter-terrorism techniques by the Israeli Defence Force.

Lord Astor of Hever: The United Kingdom does not send any military personnel overseas for training in urban warfare or counter-terrorism techniques by the Israeli Defence Force.

Asylum Seekers

Lord Hylton: To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many unaccompanied asylum-seeking children arrived in the United Kingdom in each of the last three years; and what proportion were subsequently joined by their parents or next of kin.

Lord Taylor of Holbeach: The Home Office publishes statistics on asylum applications from
	unaccompanied asylum seeking children in tables as_08 and as_08_q (Asylum data tables Volume 2) of Immigration Statistics. A copy of the latest release Immigration Statistics July-September 2013 is available from:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-statistics-july-to-september-2013 and the Library of the House. Data for Q4 2013 will be available from 27 February 2014.
	As announced in Immigration Statistics January-March 2013, an internal review in 2012 of unaccompanied and asylum seeking children and age dispute data highlighted issues in the consistency of the definitions used to produce the previously published figures. The definitions were subsequently refined and re-produced for 2012 and the following quarters of 2013. While the data published using the previous definition provides the best available guide to historical trends for the years 2006 to 2012, comparison with latest figures based on the revised definition are not recommended. It is planned that future releases of Immigration Statistics will include figures for 2006 to 2011 using the new definition.
	Figures for the number of unaccompanied children who are subsequently joined by their parents or next of kin are not routinely collected by the Home Office.

Asylum Seekers

Lord Roberts of Llandudno: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what form their financial support to asylum seekers takes; and whether they have plans to reform it.
	To ask Her Majesty’s Government what, if any, benefits are available to asylum seekers to enable them to travel on public transport.

Lord Taylor of Holbeach: Destitute asylum seekers are provided with a cash allowance which they are free to use as they choose. The Home Office also provides travel tickets for certain appointments, including asylum interviews, appeal hearings and attendance at immigration reporting centres.

Autism

Baroness Uddin: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to support the Autism Sunday Campaign.

Earl Howe: The Department recognises the importance for many people of Autism Sunday as part of a whole range of activity going on countrywide to raise awareness and understanding of autism. It enjoys cross-party support and its aims are in line with this Government’s aspirations for people with autism, which is for a society that accepts and understands autism and provides real opportunities for all adults with autism to live fulfilling and rewarding lives.

Avian Flu

Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what precautions they are taking in relation to the H10N8 bird flu virus.

Earl Howe: The United Kingdom is one of the best prepared countries in the world for dealing with threats such as avian and pandemic influenza. Public Health England (PHE) has arrangements in place to identify and investigate potential cases, undertake detailed epidemiological investigations and follow up of early cases and contacts to rapidly assess transmission, spread and severity. PHE has a network of laboratories able to recognise influenza A and able to determine if they are seasonal or avian H7 or H5. Diagnostic capability for unusual influenza viruses is maintained at the national level and would enable any strain to be identified. This system allows for the early detection of emerging influenza viruses, and viruses to be monitored for any changes to help determine whether testing strategies need to be updated. PHE is responsible for maintaining and distributing antiviral stockpiles as part of any early response and the advance purchase agreement for any pandemic vaccine.

Aviation: Air Passenger Duty

Lord Boateng: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Deighton on 4 February (WA 24), whether as part of their agreement with the Caribbean Council they intend to meet the Council to discuss their analysis of the impact on tourism in the Caribbean of current banding levels of Air Passenger Duty.

Lord Deighton: HM Treasury has met and maintains an ongoing dialogue with the Caribbean Council and the Caribbean Tourism Organisation.

Aviation: Air Quality

The Countess of Mar: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether, following the finding by the Dutch Organization for Applied Scientific Research published on 13 December 2013, reporting that tricresyl phosphate was found in KLM’s entire fleet of Boeing 737s, and in the light of peer-review criticism of the Cranfield study, whether they have any plans to order a re-run of its aircraft cabin air quality survey to incorporate a measure of a fume event.

Baroness Kramer: We have recently received the final report on cabin air from the Committee on Toxicity (CoT) and agree with its findings that levels of exposure to chemicals in contaminated bleed air would need to occur in far higher concentrations to have toxic effects, and that a causal link to the range of illnesses reported in relation to fume incidents is unlikely.
	As stated in the CoT’s paper, any decision to undertake further research would need to balance the likelihood that it will usefully inform further management of the problem against the costs of undertaking the work. Since 2008, successive Governments have devoted considerable resources to the study of cabin air. An international approach to future investigations now seems justified and, with this in mind, the Department for Transport does not plan to undertake any additional research. However, officials will forward the CoT’s paper to the European Aviation Safety Agency in order to highlight the CoT’s suggestions for further research.

Bahrain

Baroness Tonge: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what discussions they have had with the government of Bahrain concerning the release from prison of human rights activist Rihanna al Mousawi.

Baroness Warsi: We have not made specific representations to the Government of Bahrain about this case but we continue to encourage them to ensure due process is carefully and transparently followed in all cases, and that civil liberties are protected.
	Rihanna Al Mosawi was charged with activities relating to terrorism, following her arrest on 20 April 2013 at the Grand Prix circuit. We understand she has been sentenced to five years’ imprisonment on charges relating to terrorism.

Bangladesh

Lord Hylton: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the activities of Jamaat-e-Islami in Bangladesh; and whether they consider that action is necessary to address those activities.

Baroness Warsi: Although Jamaat-e-Islami’s registration as a political party with the Bangladesh Election Commission was cancelled, it is not a banned organisation in Bangladesh. Through our High Commission in Bangladesh we regularly engage with a broad range of political organisations, including
	Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami. In all our contacts we have made clear that violence and vandalism is never acceptable.

Banking: Regulation

Lord Myners: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have any plans to extend banking regulation to cover those responsible for the mis-selling of retail products and sales-based incentive schemes linked to retail financial products.

Lord Deighton: Under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has the power to regulate the selling of retail financial products and the remuneration of bank staff, and to require that appointments of persons to perform customer-facing roles in banks is subject to prior regulatory approval.

Benefits

Baroness Lister of Burtersett: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what are the terms of reference for the second review of sanctions referred to by the Minister of State for Employment, Esther McVey, in oral evidence to the House of Commons Work and Pensions Committee referenced at paragraph 99 of its Report The Role of Jobcentre Plus in the Reformed Welfare System (HC 479); and whether the terms of reference will include reviewing (1) the effects of sanctions on the health and wellbeing of those affected, and (2) the behavioural responses to sanctions.

Lord Freud: Matthew Oakley is carrying out an independent review of sanctions which will offer recommendations to improve the operations of the sanctions process. Further to this, we are committed to on-going evaluation of the sanctions regime.
	We monitor all our policies as a matter of course and as part of this we will be sharing further evidence on sanctions within the forthcoming Work programme Evaluation and the Claimant Commitment research which will provide insight into the impact of sanctions on claimant behaviour.

Caste Discrimination

Lord Avebury: To ask Her Majesty’s Government when the Government Equalities Office received the results of the research on caste commissioned by the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

Lord Popat: The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) sent a copy of its independent research report to department officials at the end of January. The EHRC plans to publish this report shortly.

Central African Republic

Baroness Berridge: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the possible deployment of the Stabilisation Unit to the Central African Republic.
	To ask Her Majesty’s Government what international non-governmental organisations the Department for International Development is funding to aid the reconciliation work currently being undertaken by the Archbishop of Bangui and Imam Layama.
	To ask Her Majesty’s Government when they will review the level of funding allocated by the Department for International Development to the Central African Republic.

Baroness Northover: The continuing violence in the Central African Republic, and the humanitarian needs of people affected, is deeply concerning. The UK has already committed £15m in bilateral humanitarian assistance, and whilst the Government is not directly supporting Archbishop of Bangui and Imam Layama’s Inter-religious platform, it is supporting agencies working with community and religious leaders to encourage reconciliation. Through our contributions to the EU, we are also supporting the work of international non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to address the root causes of the sectarian violence in the country, tackling inter and intra-communal conflict.
	The UK will continue to keep its response under review as the crisis develops. The UK has recently augmented its 2014 commitment with an additional £2 million for NGOs, bringing the total UK contribution to £17 million. We have also recently announced a further £2m in support to the African Union-led International Support Mission to the Central African Republic (MISCA), and are providing extra logistical assistance to the French operation Sangaris. This will help efforts to restore security. We are considering the revised UN appeal and continue to explore all options. Our response will be guided by what extra value the UK contribution can bring, alongside other international partners.

China

Lord Wei: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they plan to take in the light of the findings of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for East Asian Business’ report on outbound investment from China into the United Kingdom.

Lord Livingston of Parkhead: The government does not routinely respond formally to reports produced by All Party Parliamentary Groups, but will consider the findings of the report by the All Party Parliamentary Group for East Asian Business, and take into account its recommendations where appropriate.

Climate Change

Lord Mawson: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the impact of poverty and climate change on poor of communities worldwide, what steps they are taking to encourage organisations to develop business solutions that address those problems.

Baroness Northover: DfID recognises the important role of business in addressing the challenges of development and climate change. We believe that business has a key role to play and work with a wide range of private sector partners including smallholder farmers and small, informal enterprises, as well as larger companies to stimulate sustainable economic development and tax revenues that are the only way to end aid dependency.
	A number of DfID projects support companies as they develop or scale up innovative “inclusive business” models, which engage target groups as employees, suppliers or distributors across the value chain, or as customers through the development of affordable products and services that meet the needs of people in developing countries. For example, the Food Retail Industry Challenge Fund helps African Farmers by linking them to international markets. The Department also provides support for private sector investment to tackle climate change.

Commonwealth: Membership

Lord Stoddart of Swindon: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they consider that an independent Scotland would be eligible for membership of the Commonwealth; and, if so, by what process it would join.

Baroness Warsi: Should Scotland become an independent state, it would have to apply and negotiate to become a member of whichever international organisations it wished to join. In the case of an application for membership of the Commonwealth, decisions on new members are taken by consensus. The four-stage membership process includes an assessment against criteria which ultimately is endorsed at a Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting (CHOGM). These meetings take place every two years.
	In an interview with the BBC last year, the Commonwealth Secretary-General said that Scotland would need to apply to join the Commonwealth if it gained independence.

Commonwealth: Secretariat

Baroness Falkner of Margravine: To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many (1) women, and (2) men, have been nominated successfully for Secretary-General or Deputy Secretary- General posts at the Commonwealth Secretariat since 1984.

Lord Wallace of Saltaire: The Commonwealth Secretariat has confirmed that:
	Since 1984, no woman has been appointed as Secretary-General of the Commonwealth.
	The following women have been appointed as Deputy Secretary-General:
	Mmasekgoa Masire-MwambaFlorence Mugasha Veronica Sutherland
	Since 1984, the following men have been appointed as Secretary-General of the Commonwealth:
	Shridath Ramphal Emeka Anyaoku Don McKinnon Kamalesh Sharma
	Over the same period, the following men have served as Deputy Secretary-General:
	Peter Marshall Emeka Anyaoku Peter Unwin Anthony Siaguru Humphrey Maud Nick HareKrishnan Srinivasan Winston Cox Ransford Smith Deodat Maharaj

Credit Unions

Lord Alton of Liverpool: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether Department for Work and Pensions Ministers and officials intend to meet the authors of the Church Urban Fund’s (CUF) report Money Speaks Louder than Words: credit unions and the role of the Church in tackling financial exclusion to consider ways in which the Department and the CUF might take forward the report’s recommendations.

Lord Freud: The report reflects many of the findings of the DWP Feasibility Study, particularly around raising awareness of the services credit unions can offer.
	Officials meet regularly with Church of England representatives to discuss areas of mutual interest, and we will arrange for the authors of the report to be invited to a future meeting to talk about their findings.
	On 18 February DWP officials are meeting Sir Hector Sants, the newly appointed chair of the Church of England Credit Union Taskforce and we will continue to harness their activities to increase membership and support credit unions to become financially sustainable.

Cyclists: Fatalities

Lord Taylor of Warwick: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to reduce the number of fatal cyclist crashes on the road.

Baroness Kramer: The Government takes cycle safety very seriously. We have allocated £5 million for cycle proofing at 14 locations on the Highways Agency’s strategic road network over the next two years, and a further £15 million will be invested in 2015/16, with plans in place for many more similar schemes beyond that. We have made it considerably easier for local authorities to implement 20mph zones, “Trixi” mirrors, and other highway measures to support cycle safety. We encourage local authorities to consider these measures on their local highway network.
	We have set up a taskforce with Transport for London to raise awareness of safety among HGV drivers and to take targeted enforcement action against the small minority of potentially dangerous operators, drivers and vehicles. Furthermore, in March we will run a second round of the THINK! Cyclist “Safety Tips” campaign.

Diplomatic Service

Baroness Falkner of Margravine: To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many (1) women, and (2) men, have been appointed to posts as ambassadors or high commissioners since 1984 to (a) the United States, (b) China, (c) Russia, (d) France, (e) Germany, (f) Italy, (g) India, (h) Indonesia, (i) Saudi Arabia, (j) Egypt, (k) Brazil, (l) Argentina, (m) South Africa, (n) Nigeria, (o) Australia, (p) Canada, (q) New Zealand, and (r) Turkey.

Lord Wallace of Saltaire: Since 1984 the following number of Ambassadors and High Commissioners have been appointed to the following countries
	a) United States - Female (0) / Male (8)b) China - Female (0)/ Male (8)c) Russia - Female (1)/ Male (8)
	d) France - Female (0)/ Male (7)e) Germany - Female (0)/ Male (8)f) Italy - Female (0)/ Male (9)g) India - Female (0)/ Male (8)h) Indonesia - Female (0)/ Male (9)i) Saudi Arabia - Female (0)/ Male (10)j) Egypt - Female (0)/ Male (10)k) Brazil - Female (0)/ Male (8)l) Argentina - Female (1)/ Male (7) ( NB: Diplomatic and Consular relations broken off in 1982. Consular relations resumed 1989 and Diplomatic relations in 1990)m) South Africa - Female (4)/ Male (4)n) Nigeria - Female (0)/ Male (11)o) Australia - Female (2)/ Male (7)
	p) Canada - Female (0)/ Male (10)
	q) New Zealand - Female (1)/ Male (7)
	r) Turkey - Female (0)/ Male (9)

Drugs

Lord Taylor of Warwick: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to review the United Kingdom’s drug policy and to prevent increases in the number of drug-related deaths.

Lord Taylor of Holbeach: The Coalition Government is committed to keeping the 2010 Drug Strategy under review. The second annual review, which sets out progress to date and priorities for the year ahead, was published in December last year.
	Alongside the second annual review, we also published the Drug Strategy evaluation framework outlining our planned approach to evaluating the effectiveness and value for money of the Drug Strategy.
	The Government has also announced a review to consider how current legislation and current practice can be better tailored to enable police and law enforcement agencies to combat the dangerous trade in new psychoactive substances. This will build on the work of the Home Office’s International Comparators Study being led by the Minister for Crime Prevention, Norman Baker, which will gather evidence on approaches that other countries are taking to drugs.
	Official figures show that recorded numbers of drug-related deaths in England have fallen for the last three years. The ONS reported 1356 drug misuse related deaths in England in 2012, a fall of 7 per cent from the 2011 figure of 1,496—itself a further fall of 10 per cent from the equivalent figure in 2010.
	The devolved administrations are responsible for the delivery of healthcare in their countries, including the treatment of drug dependence. The Home Office works with the devolved administrations to ensure that there is good co-ordination across those issues that are reserved and those that are devolved.

Economy: Household Incomes

Lord Kennedy of Southwark: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the projections from the Institute of Fiscal Studies regarding household incomes.

Lord Deighton: The Institute for Fiscal Studies analysis shows that real household incomes have been falling since 2007-08, but projects that household incomes will rise again in 2013-14. The independent Office for Budget Responsibility forecasts that Real Household Disposable Income (RHDI) will increase by 0.5% in 2013, 1.1% in 2014, and 1.1% in 2015. Government analysis shows the bottom nine deciles of employees saw their take home pay rise faster than CPI inflation between April 2012 and April 2013. Each of these measures assesses household incomes slightly differently, but all project that household incomes will grow in real terms in 2013-14.
	There is no doubt that times are tough. The recession under the previous Government made the country poorer, and people are still feeling the consequences
	We are working through our long term economic plan that is seeing our economy grow, the deficit coming down, and jobs being created. As part of this plan, the Government is cutting taxes so that people keep more of the money they earn and have more economic and financial stability. That is why the Government are increasing the personal allowance to £10,000 in 2014-15, freezing fuel duty and council tax, and introducing Tax-Free Childcare. The single biggest risk to the recovery and to living standards would be abandoning our long term economic plan that is delivering more economic security for hardworking people.

Education: Citizenship

The Earl of Clancarty: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to ensure that individuals, including children in schools, are aware of their rights and responsibilities as European Union citizens.

Lord Wallace of Saltaire: Citizenship education forms part of the national curriculum for secondary schools. The programmes of study are designed to prepare pupils to play a full and active part in society, and are organised around core knowledge about democracy, government, and how laws are made and upheld. In particular, it covers the role of democratic institutions, including both the UK Parliament and European Union.

Education: School Holidays

Lord Pendry: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what consideration they are giving to families who are inhibited from taking a holiday outside school terms by increases in the cost of flights, in the light of the increased powers given to schools to fine parents who take their children on holiday in term-time.

Lord Nash: Pupils who are absent are less likely to do well at school and achieve good exam results. Primary school is particularly important and if a pupil is absent for a couple of weeks they can miss out on key learning in subjects like English and maths.
	The Government believes that the education of every pupil is very important. It has empowered head teachers to make decisions about when pupils can be absent from school, and made clear that it should only happen in exceptional circumstances.
	We are encouraging schools to ask families about moving term times, so that they can vary holidays and prevent all school holidays from being in exactly the same week, which tends to push up holiday prices. We want schools to achieve this by being considerate and working with other local schools to make sure that holiday times can be staggered.

Elderly People: Emergency Treatment

Lord Taylor of Warwick: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to improve care for the elderly and reduce the number of occasions on which they need to seek treatment in accident and emergency departments.

Earl Howe: Changes to the general practitioner (GP) contract for 2014-15 will mean that everyone aged 75 and over will have a named GP responsible for overseeing their care. Through an enhanced service, GPs will also be asked to identify which of their patients may be at risk of emergency admission and take preventative actions, including ensuring a personalised care plan is developed.
	In order to also prevent avoidable readmissions, named GPs will ensure that, following discharge from hospital, vulnerable patients are contacted by an appropriate professional to arrange their on-going care in a co-ordinated way.
	We have also asked GPs to review emergency admissions from care and nursing homes in order to prevent unnecessary visits to accident and emergency. Any information on emergency admissions, and readmissions, will be shared with clinical commissioning groups to help inform future commissioning decisions.
	These changes are part of a wider vision to improve quality of care for older people, which will be set out later this year.
	In addition, the £3.8 billion Better Care Fund also incentivises local areas to reduce emergency admissions by integrating health and social care. Local plans are currently being drafted and need to set out how areas will develop 7-day working, joint care planning and named accountable professionals for those most at need.

Elections: General Election

Lord Stoddart of Swindon: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have made any consideration of the case for delaying the next general election until 2016, in the event that Scotland votes for independence; and, if so, by what parliamentary process they envisage the delay could be given effect.

Lord Wallace of Saltaire: The Government has made no such consideration.

Electoral Registration

Lord Inglewood: To ask Her Majesty’s Government when they will bring into force the provisions in the Electoral Registration and Administration Act 2013 that extend the timetable for United Kingdom parliamentary elections.

Lord Wallace of Saltaire: The Government intends to bring into force provisions in the Electoral Registration and Administration Act 2013 that extend the timetable for UK Parliamentary elections in good time before the UK Parliamentary General Election in 2015.

Embryology

Lord Alton of Liverpool: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what are the total number of human embryos which have been destroyed or experimented upon in the United Kingdom, and of animal-human hybrid embryos created, since such procedures were made legal; and, in the light of continued scientific advances using adult stem cells, when they last reviewed whether it is necessary or licit to continue with the creation and destruction of human embryos.

Earl Howe: The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990 (as amended) provides that human embryos created by in vitro fertilisation that are not transferred to a patient, and human admixed embryos that can only be created for research, cannot
	be allowed to develop beyond a maximum of 14 days. At that stage, the embryos are about the size of the head of a pin.
	The 1990 Act also provides that the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) cannot licence research using human embryos or human admixed embryos .unless the research is necessary or desirable for the purposes specified in the Act and the use of embryos is necessary. The HFEA does not hold data of the number of embryos experimented upon.
	The HFEA advises that the number of human embryos that were allowed to perish between 1991 and 2011, and the wider context of the number of human embryos that were created during that period, is as set out in the Answer I provided to the noble Lord on 8 January 2013 (Official Report, columns WA 24-26). In addition, in 2012 the number of embryos allowed to perish was 166,631.
	The HFEA also advises that 155 human admixed embryos have been created for research since the 1990 Act was amended in 2008 to allow such research.
	The HFEA has advised that its Scientific and Clinical Advances Advisory Committee (SCAAC) reviews the progress of research into alternative methods to derive embryonic or embryonic-like stem cells on a regular basis. It last reviewed the research at its meeting on 12 June 2013. This information, and SCAAC’s view, is used to inform HFEA licensing decisions when relevant.

Embryology

Lord Alton of Liverpool: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made, and what action they intend to take, in the light of new research conducted at the University of Aberdeen regarding the risks of in vitro fertilisation for some couples; and what assessment they have made of the evidence relating to the effectiveness of in vitro fertilisation and intra-cytoplasmic sperm injection.

Earl Howe: The Government would seek advice on such matters from the national regulator, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA). The HFEA has advised that it keeps all new research under review and will look at the University of Aberdeen research as part of that process.
	The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990, as amended, requires centres licensed by the HFEA to provide patients with all appropriate information on the treatment they propose to undergo, including information about the associated risks and likely outcomes of that treatment. The HFEA provides clinics with guidance regarding what this information should include, which is outlined in its code of practice.
	The HFEA presents data on the effectiveness of fertility treatment which can be found on its website at: www.hfea.gov.uk/fertility-treatment-trends.html

Embryology

Lord Alton of Liverpool: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answers by Earl Howe on 29 August 2013 (WA 359), 30 October 2013 (WA 259), 22 January (WA 129), whether they consider that the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority was correct
	to state that “PNT involves genetically modifying an embryo” and that “MST involves genetically modifying a human egg” in the information provided on their website as part of their online consultation; and to what extent that information was conveyed equally clearly in all strands of their consultation.

Earl Howe: As the noble Lord is aware from Viscount Younger of Leckie’s Written Answer of 12 November 2013, Official Report, Col. WA 113, there is no universally accepted definition of “genetic modification”.
	The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), in its public dialogue and consultation exercise on the use of mitochondrial donation in clinical practice, used a variety of terms to refer to the outcomes of these techniques, depending on the context, including “germline gene therapy”, “modification of embryos”, “modification of eggs”, “changing the germline”, “germline modification”, “genetically modifying an embryo” and “genetically modifying a human egg”.
	The report that the HFEA provided to the Department at the conclusion of the public dialogue and consultation referred to the mitochondrial donation techniques as “germline modification”.
	The HFEA has advised that diagrams and, in most strands, a video on the consultation website, which can be found at: www.hfea.gov.uk/6896.html were used to explain the techniques in all the strands of the public dialogue. Details of the methods used for each strand can be found in the HFEA’s reports.

Employment: Migrants

Lord Taylor of Warwick: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to help into employment female migrants who may lack the skills required to be economically active.

Lord Freud: Support for the unemployed is a priority for this Government. We provide funding to enable unemployed people to take up education and training which helps them develop the skills they need for employment.
	Eligibility criteria for public funding are set out in the Skills Funding Agency’s Funding Rules. Details are available at:
	http://skillsfundingagency.bis.gov.uk/providers/fundingrules/
	Unemployed learners will be eligible for full funded skills training if they are claimants of Jobseeker’s Allowance, Employment and Support Allowance (in the Work Related Activity Group) and those on Universal Credit mandated to training by their Jobcentre adviser. Skills providers may also provide fully funded training to unemployed people on other benefits where this will help the learner gain the skills they need for employment.

Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013

Lord Stevenson of Balmacara: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what consultations or calls for evidence they are planning in respect of the implementation of section 74 of the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013.

Viscount Younger of Leckie: The Government committed to consulting on when to implement section 74 of the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013. This relates to the commencement of the repeal of section 52 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
	In October 2013, the Government launched a Call for Evidence seeking information on the impact of the timing of the repeal. The Government is currently assessing the evidence received.
	The Government plans to publish a consultation in spring 2014 seeking views on the Government’s proposals for transitional provisions.

Environment: Bird Sanctuaries

Lord Berkeley: To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much the Environment Agency has spent on creating bird sanctuaries on or near the Somerset Levels in the last ten years.

Lord De Mauley: As part of the Severn Estuary strategy, the Environment Agency has created inter-tidal habitat on the Steart peninsula at a cost of £20.2million. The new habitat helps protect 75 properties and the high voltage power line from Hinkley power station. In addition it compensates for the losses of internationally important wildlife sites that would otherwise be lost when flood defences along the estuary are improved in the future.

Eritrea

Lord Dubs: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will discuss with the Eritrean Ambassador to the United Kingdom his compliance with United Nations Resolution 2023 (2011) regarding taxation levied on Eritrean citizens living in the United Kingdom.

Baroness Warsi: The UK supports United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 2023, which condemned Eritrea’s use of the diaspora tax
	and called on Eritrea to cease using illicit means to collect the tax. On 25 October 2013, Foreign and Commonwealth Office officials raised UNSCR 2023 with the Eritrean Ambassador.

Eritrea

Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they are taking to enforce United Nations Security Council Resolution 2023, passed in 2011, which outlawed the “2 per cent tax” on the United Kingdom earnings of Eritreans living in the United Kingdom, being enforced by the government of Eritrea.

Baroness Warsi: The UK supports United Nations Security Council resolution (UNSCR) 2023, which condemned Eritrea’s use of the Diaspora tax and called on Eritrea to cease using illicit means to collect the tax. The UK has made clear that the use of coercion or other illicit means to collect the tax in the UK must cease. Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) officials last raised this on 25 October 2013 in a meeting with the Eritrean Ambassador.
	On 8 November 2013, officials from the FCO, the National Crime Agency and West Yorkshire Police met members of the Eritrean Diaspora to discuss the Diaspora tax. At this meeting, Eritreans were urged to report any use of coercion or other illicit means to collect the tax to the police. We will continue to engage with the Diaspora on this issue.

EU: Firearms

Lord Stoddart of Swindon: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the intervention of the European Union Commissioner for Home Affairs into the area of gun control; and whether they consider that gun control should be a national competence covered by subsidiarity.

Lord Taylor of Holbeach: The UK has some of the toughest gun laws in the world. Gun control is, and should remain, a national competence. We do, however, support the work that the European Union Commissioner for Home Affairs is leading to better understand and disrupt the supply of illegal firearms into and across the European Union.

EU: Foreign Policy

Lord Stoddart of Swindon: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Warsi on 24 January concerning European Union foreign policy (WA 173), what role they see for an independent United Kingdom foreign policy, in the light of the involvement of the European Union in foreign policy areas such as Iran, Syria and Ukraine.

Lord Wallace of Saltaire: The UK has an independent foreign policy. As part of that foreign policy, we work closely with our EU partners to deliver the UK’s international priorities. The UK sees the EU’s Common Foreign and Security Policy, agreed by unanimity, as a multiplier of UK influence.

EU: Referendum

Lord Jones of Cheltenham: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the rules covering non-uprating of the basic state pension will apply to United Kingdom pensioners living in the European Union if the United Kingdom leaves the European Union after a referendum.
	To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether clause 20 of the Pensions Bill is intended to apply to United Kingdom pensioners living in the European Union if the United Kingdom leaves the European Union after a referendum.
	To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the European Union Biocidal Products Regulation will apply in the United Kingdom if the United Kingdom leaves the European Union after a referendum.

Lord Freud: The Coalition Government has no plans to hold a referendum on the UK’s membership of the EU. It would therefore be unwise to speculate on the effects of the UK leaving the Union.

EU: UK Membership

Lord Stoddart of Swindon: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Warsi on 24 January (WA 174) concerning the future of the United Kingdom in the European Union, whether they will now answer the question asked, namely whether a priority in their reform agenda is the removal from any new treaty the phrase “resolved to continue the process of creating an ever closer union among the peoples of Europe”.

Baroness Warsi: The Government has clearly set out its priorities for reforming the EU: competitiveness, flexibility, democratic accountability, power flowing both ways, and fairness for those within and outside the single currency. The Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron), gave his view on “ever closer union” in his speech on the UK’s relationship with Europe of 23 January 2013.

EU: UK Personnel

Baroness Falkner of Margravine: To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many (1) women, and (2) men, have been appointed as United Kingdom permanent representative to the European Union.

Lord Wallace of Saltaire: The number of women and men who have been appointed as United Kingdom permanent representative to the European Union since 1984 are as follows:
	Female—0Male—9

European Securities and Markets Authority

Lord Myners: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they support the predetermination that the Chairmanship and Deputy Chairmanship of the European Securities and Markets Authority should be held by nominees of two nominating bodies, the European Central Bank and the Bank of England.

Lord Deighton: The Regulation establishing the European Securities and Markets Authority does not specify what institution should provide its chair or vice-chair.
	The next chair of the European System Risk Board will be determined following the review required in its establishing Regulation, which states that the European Parliament and Council shall examine the Regulation on the basis of a report from the Commission and “shall, in particular, review the modalities for the designation or election of the chair of the ESRB”. The UK will contribute to this process in the normal way.

Eurozone

Lord Stoddart of Swindon: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Statement by Lord Deighton on 6 February concerning the recent ECOFIN meeting (WS 35), what proposals the Greek Presidency put forward for “further EU/Eurozone integration”; whether they consider such proposals in the United Kingdom’s national interest; and whether they would involve any additional financial support.

Lord Deighton: To date, the Greek presidency has not put forward any specific proposals on further EU or Eurozone integration. However, the Greek Presidency continues to take forward work on Banking Union, in particular the Single Resolution Mechanism.
	The UK supports closer economic and fiscal integration for the euro area to strengthen the single currency, as it is in our interests to see a stable euro area. However, we have been clear that the UK will not be part of closer integration and will protect the interests of those outside the single currency, especially the single market.

Finance: Payday Loans

The Lord Bishop of St Albans: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the Ofcom’s publication Trends in Advertising Activity—Payday Loans, published in December 2013, what assessment they have made of the impact on children between four and 15 years old of the number of payday loan advertisements to which they are exposed.
	To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of Ofcom's publication Trends in Advertising Activity—Payday Loans published in December 2013, what assessment they have made of the increase in the number of payday loan advertisements watched by children aged four to 15 years old over the past four years; and whether they have any plans to address the situation.
	To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of Ofcom's publication Trends in Advertising Activity—Payday Loans published in December 2013, what assessment they have made of the frequency and impact of payday loan advertising viewed by children on non-children’s television channels.
	To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of Ofcom's publication Trends in Advertising Activity—Payday Loans published in December 2013, whether they plan to commission research into the impact of payday loan advertisements on young peoples' attitudes to the responsible use of money.

Lord Deighton: Payday loan adverts are subject to the Advertising Standards Authority’s strict content rules. The ASA will not hesitate to ban irresponsible adverts, and has a strong track record of doing so.
	The Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice (BCAP), the body that writes the Broadcast Advertising Code, is considering Ofcom’s research and the extent to which payday loan advertising features on children's TV, and whether there are any implications for the ASA’s regulation of this sector.
	Separately, the Financial Conduct Authority is consulting on new rules for consumer credit adverts, including proposals to introduce mandatory risk warnings and signposting to debt advice. It has powers to ban misleading adverts which breach its rules.

Finance: Short Selling

Lord Myners: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Deighton on 30 January (WA 247), whether they have consulted the United Kingdom fund management and ancillary industries in reaching their conclusion that the judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union on Case C-280/12 regarding Article 28 of the Short Selling Regulation will not have any day-to-day impact on those industries.

Lord Deighton: Article 28 concerns the powers available to ESMA in an emergency situation, and not the day-to-day implementation of the Regulation, which the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) supervises. The Government has therefore not consulted the United Kingdom fund management and ancillary industries, in concluding that the judgement in Case C-270/12 will have no day-to-day impact.

Flooding

Lord Patten: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord De Mauley on 27 January (WA 191), whether, in the light of the continuing flooding of the Somerset levels, they now expect the Environment Agency to increase expenditure on flood alleviation and prevention measures in the affected areas.

Lord De Mauley: As part of the new funding announced by the Coalition Government to help manage the floods and repair damages across the country, £10m has been earmarked for work on the Somerset Levels.
	The Secretary of State has also asked officials to work with local authorities and other local partners in Somerset, as well as the Environment Agency, Natural England and other Government Departments, to develop an action plan by early March for the long term sustainable future of the Levels and Moors. This plan will consider a range of options and future funding for improving the area’s resilience in the long term.
	The Secretary of State has made it clear that the action plan will need to stack up against other proposals for funding elsewhere in the country, and that a partnership approach will be essential.

Flooding

Lord Patten: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have sought or intend to seek advice from the government of the Netherlands concerning areas of farmland and domestic housing in England that are below sea level.

Lord De Mauley: We have no plans to seek advice directly from the Government of the Netherlands in relation to these issues. However, experts from the Netherlands have been involved in discussions with local drainage boards and others in relation to future dredging and drainage of farmland on the Somerset Moors and Levels. The Environment Agency also has access to valuable Dutch expertise on these issues.
	That expertise will be taken into account in the Action Plan for the Levels and Moors, which is currently under development. Once the Action Plan has been agreed we will consider whether lessons can be learned for other parts of the country.

Flooding

Lord Stoddart of Swindon: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the impact of European Union directives on flooding and water management on the current flooding in the Somerset Levels; and whether they consider that those directives strike an appropriate balance between protecting environmental and wildlife habitats and ensuring human safety, social wellbeing and economic activity.

Lord De Mauley: The Government has not made an assessment of the impact of European Union directives on the flooding of the Somerset Levels. However, with effective forward planning watercourse maintenance activities can generally be managed in a way which supports the achievement of economic, social and environmental benefits, and strikes an appropriate balance.
	The Action Plan for the Levels and Moors will consider a range of options for improving the long-term resilience of the area in a sustainable way. Any barriers to the achievement of those improvements which are identified through the Action Plan will be given urgent consideration, including any which are related to the impact of European Union Directives.

Flooding

Lord Hunt of Chesterton: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to ensure that water quality is being measured in flooded areas, that the results are being publicised, that warnings are being issued about drinking water, and that advice is issued to households and businesses to minimise their contribution to contamination of flood waters.

Lord De Mauley: Responsibility for sampling and assuring the quality of drinking water supplies rests primarily with the water companies, under the supervision of the Drinking Water Inspectorate.
	There are no current public health concerns on the safety of drinking water. The Drinking Water Inspectorate and Public Health England are keeping this under review.
	Advice on public health aspects of flooding is given by Public Health England. In particular the leaflet Flooding: advice for the public, published in early December 2013, is available on the Public Health England website. For specific events, local authority environmental health officers issue advice to those concerned that follows
	guidance published by Drinking Water Inspectorate on contingency or alternate supplies where properties on a private borehole or spring supply are flooded.
	In flooded areas of Somerset, Public Health England reports that the drinking water supplied by the local utility companies has not been affected by the bacterial contamination observed in the surface (flood) waters. The mains drinking water supply remains clean and safe to drink, and this information is being relayed regularly to the householders in the area.

Flooding

Lord Patten: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord De Mauley on 30 January (WA 247), whether one person or body has overall operational and strategic responsibility for the different bodies with responsibilities for flood prevention in the Somerset Levels.

Lord De Mauley: At present, operational and strategic responsibility for flood prevention in the Somerset Levels is not held by one person or body. These responsibilities rest with the bodies outlined in the answer provided on 30 January (WA247). The Secretary of State has asked officials, working with local partners, the Environment Agency, and across other Government Departments, to come up with an action plan by early March. This action plan will examine the best ways in which to ensure long term, sustainable management of the area.

Flooding

Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, for each year from 2014 to 2020, what forecast they have made of the additional number of properties that will be excluded from the Flood Re insurance scheme because they were built after 2009; and what assessment they have made of the impact on households so excluded.

Lord De Mauley: From 2009-2013, approximately 571,000 properties have been built in the UK, averaging 142,000 properties per year Defra does not have a forecast for the number of houses to be built between now and 2020.
	There has also been no assessment made on the impact on households excluded since there has been no change in Government policy.

Flooding

Lord Berkeley: To ask Her Majesty’s Government when the Environment Agency was first aware that the section of sea wall at Dawlish that has now failed was in a weak state; and what action it took at that time.

Lord De Mauley: The sea wall at Dawlish is not an Environment Agency asset; the Environment Agency were not aware that it was in a weak condition until 4 February 2014.
	This is an operational matter for Network Rail, who owns this asset.

Flooding

Lord Maginnis of Drumglass: To ask Her Majesty’s Government to what extent they consider that inadequate provision of storm and waste-water drainage infrastructure for new housing and commercial development since the year 2000 has contributed to the recent increase in local flooding; what assessment they have made of the respective roles played by central and local government in respect of the matter; and whether they will consider re-examining their current plans to release available undeveloped land for such purposes.

Baroness Stowell of Beeston: As my rt Hon Friend, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Eric Pickles) said in his statement of 6 February 2014, Official Report, House of Commons, Column 445, in due course, there will be lessons to be learnt from the recent floods. This includes the role and policies of quangos, the influence of man-made interventions on our landscape and rivers, and the resilience of our nation as a whole in the 21st Century.
	Notwithstanding, I would note that the National Planning Policy Framework states that inappropriate development in areas at risk of flooding should be avoided. Local planning authorities should direct development away from areas at highest risk, including floodplains, but where development is necessary, it must be demonstrated that it is safe and will not increase flood risk elsewhere. This gives councils the robust ability to reject unacceptable planning applications. Councils' Local Plans should also shape where development should and should not go, and address the need for associated infrastructure to accompany new development.
	Flood prevention measures, like robust flood and coastal defences, can make development acceptable where it would otherwise not be. For example, London is at risk of tidal flooding, as evident from the North Sea floods of 1953 which inflicted immense damage on the East End of London. However, since 1983, the Thames Barrier has mitigated that risk.
	Moreover, national planning policy is clear that any new buildings that are needed in flood risk areas are appropriately flood resistant and resilient. Mitigation measures such as land raising, landscaping, raised thresholds and re-arranging the internal uses of buildings, can sometimes also make development acceptable in such areas. Such measures can be made a requirement of any planning consent by the local authority.

Flooding: Insurance

Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the number of properties excluded from the Flood Re insurance scheme because they were built after 2009; and what assessment they have made of the impact on households so excluded.

Lord De Mauley: The aim of Flood Re is to provide support to those who need it the most; this received wide agreement in the public consultation. Properties built after 2009 were not covered under the 2008 Statement of Principles agreement, the predecessor to Flood Re, and on this basis continue to be excluded. Strong planning controls should mean that very few of those homes which have been built since then will be in areas at risk of flooding.
	Over 98% of the UK’s current housing stock was built before 2009. Changing the cut-off date from 2009 to a later date could add between 3,500 and 16,000 properties to the scheme, based on current evidence. Current estimations also suggest overall cost increases to Flood Re would be between £0.9m to £3.3m.
	Including properties built after 2009 would either increase costs to all households through necessary increases in the levy or decrease the support available to those on lower incomes.
	There has been no assessment made on the impact on households excluded since there has been no change in Government policy.

Food and Drink: Labelling

Lord Roberts of Llandudno: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they are taking to encourage food and beverage manufacturers to include clear and understandable food labelling on products for the benefit of consumers with conditions such as diabetes.

Earl Howe: The nutrients that can be declared on pre-packed food are defined in law. From December 2016, the majority of pre-packaged foods will be required to carry nutrition labelling on the back of the pack, including energy value and the amounts of fat, saturates, carbohydrate, sugars, protein and salt.
	The new EU Regulation No. 1169/2011 additionally allows energy value only or energy value plus amounts of fat, saturates, sugars and salt to be voluntarily repeated on front of pack. In June 2013 we published a Government recommendation on how this information could be provided clearly and consistently. To date companies accounting for nearly two thirds of pre-packaged food have said they will use this new scheme.
	EU Regulation No. 1169/2011 also introduces for the first time legibility requirements (minimum font sizes) for both back and front of pack nutrition labelling.

Food: Flour Fortification

Lord Turnberg: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Earl Howe on 4 February (WA 30), on what date the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition’s advice on mandatory fortification of wholemeal flour was published; whether
	that Committee has reached similar conclusions as regards the fortification of white flour; and what assessment that Committee made of recent research evidence in that field.

Earl Howe: The Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition’s (SACN) consideration of the impact of fortifying wheat flour with folic acid was published in their 2006 report “Folate and Disease Prevention”. Consideration of the inclusion of wholemeal flour in the fortification process was reflected in this report.
	The SACN recommended to Government in this report that mandatory fortification of flour with folic acid would reduce the incidence of pregnancies affected by neural tube defects (NTD). However, the Committee stipulated that mandatory fortification should only be introduced alongside a number of other measures including those to reduce the numbers of people exceeding the upper recommended level per day.
	The SACN has not been asked to assess any further research evidence in this field since delivery of its advice to the Chief Medical Officer in 2009 on folic acid and colorectal cancer risk.

Food: Flour Fortification

Lord Stoddart of Swindon: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Earl Howe on 4 February concerning mandatory fortification of flour with folic acid (WA 30), whether wholemeal flour will be exempted; and what assessment they have made of the effects of fortified flour on the general population, other than pregnant women.

Earl Howe: The extent of mandatory fortification of flour with folic acid, including any exemption for wholemeal flour, will be considered along with the effects of folic acid fortification of flour on the general population in coming to a final decision on whether to proceed with this policy or not.

Government Departments: 0845 Telephone Numbers

Lord Greaves: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their policy on the use of 0845 numbers by government departments and agencies; and whether they have given advice to the Environment Agency on their use of an 0845 number for their flood warnings.

Lord De Mauley: Cabinet Office guidance published in December 2013 confirmed that where a non-geographic number is needed, departments should treat the use of the 03 prefix as a default policy position for the provision of core public services.
	Ahead of this guidance the Environment Agency introduced a new 0345 prefix number in November 2013 for testing and published the number on their website on 3 February 2014. This number is available in addition to the existing 0845 number.
	Members of the public have the choice to use either the 0345 or 0845 number, depending on which is cheapest to them.

Government Departments: Expenditure

Baroness Gale: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the expected reduction of £304 million in the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills budget over the next two years will have any impact on the science budget.

Viscount Younger of Leckie: This Government has a history of strong support for science. We will continue to protect the ringfenced science budget for the next two years

Government Departments: Payroll Services

Lord Kennedy of Southwark: To ask Her Majesty’s Government which organisations the Cabinet Office allows to receive payments by the use of payroll deduction facilities.

Lord Wallace of Saltaire: In the last 12 months, payments have been made from Cabinet Office staff salaries directly from payroll to the following organisations:
	Benenden Healthcare SocietyCharities TrustCivil Service Club Civil Service Sports CouncilForester HealthHospital Savings Association Individual (Simply Health)Leeds Hospital FundPCS UnionProspect UnionSun-Life AXACharity for Civil Servants (formerly the Civil Service Benevolent Fund)

Government Departments: Payroll Services

Lord Kennedy of Southwark: To ask Her Majesty’s Government which organisations the Ministry of Defence allows to receive payments by the use of payroll deduction facilities.

Lord Astor of Hever: The requested information is provided in the following table. It includes all of the main organisations to whom payments can be made from the military or civilian payroll, but the Ministry of Defence considers adding other organisations on a case by case basis:
	AEA Recreational SocietyALPHA HealthclubArmy Dependants (Assurance) Trust Army Sports LotteryAXA Sun Life Assurance Society Ltd BUPA Mercia Health BenefitsBenenden Healthcare SocietyBirmingham Hospital Saturday Fund BHCA Boscombe Down Death Benefit FundChildcare Vouchers (paid to Sodexho for onward payment to childcare providers)Child Support Agency (CSA)CPAX FamilyCPAX IndividualCSBF Loan RecoveryCivil Service Benevolent FundCivil Service ClubCivil Service Sports CouncilClyde Submarine Base Dependant FundDisciplinary Compensation Payment (to a third party)DSRA LotteryDSSA ModcareFamily Maintenance GrantsFSNBF Gift AidForester Health BHCAForces SafeguardGive As You Earn (GAYE) including 'Charitable Giving' and other tax- efficient payroll giving schemesGroup InsuranceHSA Health Insurance Health Scheme Hull Health Shield Hospital Fund BHCA Healthsure Portfolio BHCA Her Majesty's Court Services (HMCS) Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) Hospital Saturday Fund MOD Liverpool Rec Society MOD Police Lottery Merseyside Health BHCA Midland Society for the Blind Mobile Reservist Pension Contributions (MRPC) Naval Dependants Income & Assurance Trust Patients Aid Association Wolverhampton BHCA PAX Insurance Personal Accident Insurance Scheme (PAIN)
	Police Mutual Society Provincial Hospital Services Bedford BHCARAF Benevolent Fund RAF Dependents Fund RAF Sports Lottery Royal Navy Sports Lottery Simply Health Sovereign Accident Plan Sovereign Health Plan Stakeholder Pensions Student Loan company (via HMRC)UK Civil Service Benefit Society Welsh Hospital Health Services Association Western Provident Association Health Services BHCA Westfield Contributory Health Scheme GMBATU National Union of RMT WorkersPCS Union Adjustment Public and Commercial Services Union Public and Commercial Services Union (Non Levy) PROSPECT TGWU Unite (including AMICUS) Defence Police Federation

Government Departments: Payroll Services

Lord Kennedy of Southwark: To ask Her Majesty’s Government which organisations the Department for Work and Pensions allows to receive payments by the use of payroll deduction facilities.

Lord Freud: The following list, which is not exhaustive, provides organisations for which voluntary deductions may be made.
	
		
			 Association of First Division Civil Servants 
			 Benenden 
			 BHCA 
			 Birmingham Hospital Saturday Fund 
			 Charity for Civil Servants 
			 Charity for Civil Servants (recovery of loans) 
			 Charities Trust 
			 Civil Service Club 
			 Civil Service Sports Council 
			 Customs Annuity Benefit Fund 
			 Forester Health 
			 HASSRA DWP 
			 HASSRA LOTTERY 
			 Health Scheme 
			 Health Sure Group 
			 HSA Crown Simply Health 
			 HAS Individual Simply Health 
			 Hospital Saturday Fund 
			 Leeds Hospital Fund 
			 Merseyside Health 
			 Norwich Union 
		
	
	
		
			 PCS Union 
			 Post Office Insurance Society 
			 Prospect 
			 Scottish Benevolent Fund 
			 Sun Life Axa 
			 UK Civil Service Benefit Society 
			 Welsh Hospital Health Service Association 
			 Westfield Health (discretionary) 
			 Westfield Health (fixed) 
			 Civil Service Retirement Fellowship 
			 Hosp Savings Assoc Crown 
			 Transport and General Workers Union 
			 Give As You Earn G.A.Y.E

Government Departments: Payroll Services

Lord Kennedy of Southwark: To ask Her Majesty’s Government which organisations the Foreign and Commonwealth Office allows to receive payments by the use of payroll deduction facilities.

Baroness Warsi: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office allows voluntary payroll deductions to the following organisations: Civil Service pensions, Stakeholder pensions, Union subscriptions, Edenred Childcare Vouchers (Salary sacrifice), Benenden Healthcare, British Healthcare Association, Simply Health, The Hospital Saturday Fund, Civil Service Sports and Social club, Charity for Civil Servants, Charities Trust, AXA Life Assurance, Post Office Insurance Society.

Government Departments: Payroll Services

Lord Kennedy of Southwark: To ask Her Majesty’s Government which organisations HM Treasury allows to receive payments by the use of payroll deduction facilities.

Lord Deighton: HM Treasury pays the following organisations:
	Statutory deductions
	HMRC
	County courts
	Child Protection Agency
	Pension deductions
	Cabinet Office—Pension scheme deductions and employer contributions
	Standard Life
	Scottish Widows
	TUC/Prudential
	RPMI
	HM Treasury
	Sun Life Assurance
	Payroll Giving
	Charities Aid Foundation (CAF)
	Charity for Civil Servants
	Discretionary deductions
	Civil Service Sports Club
	Simply Health
	PCS

Government Departments: Payroll Services

Lord Kennedy of Southwark: To ask Her Majesty’s Government which organisations the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills allows to receive payments by the use of payroll deduction facilities.

Viscount Younger of Leckie: The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills allows the following organisations to receive payments by the use of payroll deduction facilities:
	HMRCCharitable GivingGAYEBenenden HealthcareCS Benevolent FundCS Sports CouncilPCS UnionPension Scottish WidowsProspectSimply HealthBHSFBritish Health CareCash for HealthCivil Service ClubNational FriendlyHSA IndividualHealthsure GroupHealthshieldHospital Saturday FundLeeds Hosp FundMerseyside HealthMinerva SSAPension PARLIAMENT Pension STD LifePension TUC PRUScottish Ben FunSov Health CareSun Life AssuranceUK CS Benefit SocietyWelsh HospitalsWestfield HealthDSRA LotteryHASSRA LotteryDESO Ret Officer AssociationFirst Div AssociationAVC Equitable Life Death BenefitAVC Equitable LifeAVC Scottish WidowsAVC Standard lifeHM Courts

Gypsies and Travellers

Lord Avebury: To ask Her Majesty’s Government on what basis the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government decides to recover planning appeals by Travellers; how many planning appeals by Travellers are outstanding; what proportion of appeals by Travellers are recovered; and how that figure compares with other ethnic groups.

Baroness Stowell of Beeston: The Secretary of State’s policy on the recovery of appeals is set out in the Official Report (30 June 2008, Column 44WS; 1 July 2013, Column 1132WS; and 10 October 2013, Column 3OWS). The most recent statement on the recovery of appeals related to the protection of the Green Belt (17 January 2014, Column 35WS).
	As of 6 February 2014 there were 144 Traveller appeals which have yet to be determined. Of these, 57 have been recovered for decision by the Secretary of State. We do not hold information relating to planning appeals by ethnic groups.

Health Education England

Lord Mawson: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Earl Howe on 23 January (WA 152), what steps Health Education England is taking to ensure that primary medical and dental services are enabled to carry out the shift from care to prevention that the Secretary of State for Health is promoting.

Earl Howe: Health Education England (HEE) has responsibility for promoting high quality education and training that is responsive to the changing needs of patients and local communities. It recognises the importance of prevention in fulfilling that role.
	HEE works with stakeholders to influence training curricula as appropriate. The training curricula of primary medical and dental staff already include elements covering prevention. For example both the training curriculum for general practitioners and the dental foundation training curriculum include promoting health and preventing disease.

Health Education England

Lord Mawson: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Earl Howe on 23 January (WA 152), how Health Education England decides between conflicting demands on its budget between provision for services in a community-based setting and those in a hospital-based setting.

Earl Howe: Health Education England (HEE), through its local education and training boards, works with providers of NHS services, including those providing services in community and hospital based settings, to develop the workforce plan. This informs HEE’s commissions for training the future healthcare professionals and informs where HEE invests its budget. HEE is also working with training providers to ensure that in future undergraduate trainees have exposure to community services as part of their placements.

Health: Cancer

Lord Taylor of Warwick: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to improve the accuracy of cancer diagnosis in the National Health Service.

Earl Howe: We are fully committed to improving early diagnosis for people with cancer and have set out our intention to support general practitioners (GPs) with access to a range of diagnostic tests. In total, we are investing an additional £450 million over this Spending Review to support additional tests and the costs of subsequent treatment.
	This money will fund over two million extra tests over the next four years and give GPs access to non-obstetric ultrasound—to support diagnosis of ovarian cancer; flexible sigmoidoscopy—to support the diagnosis of bowel cancer; and brain magnetic resonance imaging scans—to support the diagnosis of brain cancer.
	The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s (NICE) Diagnostic Assessment Programme evaluates innovative medical diagnostic technologies in order to ensure that the National Health Service is able to adopt clinically and cost effective technologies rapidly and consistently.
	NICE has published diagnostics guidance on specific technologies relating to breast cancer, cervical cancer and lung' cancer and is currently developing guidance on specific technologies relating to colorectal cancer and prostate cancer.
	It will be for NHS England and clinical commissioning groups to decide whether to adopt a particular diagnostic technology which has been recommended by NICE.

Health: Cardiology

Lord Taylor of Warwick: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to increase awareness of the impact of a high sugar diet on the risk of heart disease.

Earl Howe: The Government is not aware of any current evidence directly linking sugar intake with risk of heart disease. However, eating too
	many calories, including those from sugary foods, can lead to weight gain which increases the risk of heart disease.
	The Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN), a committee of experts who advise the Government on nutrition issues, is currently reviewing the evidence on sugar, including risk to cardiovascular disease, as part of its carbohydrates and health review. Upon receipt of SACN’s recommendations, the Government will consider whether its advice on carbohydrates, including sugar, requires updating.
	We continue to advise people to eat a healthy balanced diet and we also provide advice tools which support people in improving their health and well-being. These include the Change4Life campaign, 5 A DAY scheme, Public Health Responsibility Deal and the NHS Choices consumer based information website.

Health: Diabetes

Lord Taylor of Warwick: To ask Her Majesty’s Government how they will increase awareness of the risk of diabetes.

Earl Howe: The Government is taking a number of actions to increase awareness of the risk of diabetes. It is important to differentiate between type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Type 1 is not related to obesity or other lifestyle factors and therefore cannot be prevented.
	From September to October 2013, NHS England and Public Health England supported the largest ever type 2 diabetes awareness campaign, launched by Diabetes UK. The campaign aimed to raise awareness of the risk factors of type 2 diabetes and enable people to understand their risk of developing the condition.
	In January 2014, NHS England published 'Action for Diabetes', which sets out how NHS England will drive prevention of type 2 diabetes and earlier diagnosis of all diabetes. As well as prevention, NHS England is putting a real emphasis on screening for high risk or the presence of type 2 diabetes through the NHS Health Check programme.
	The NHS Health Check is a risk assessment and management programme, for those aged 40-74, aimed at raising awareness and preventing a range of illnesses, including diabetes.

Health: Meningitis

Lord Avebury: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what was the outcome of the further assessment of the cost-effectiveness of treatments for group B meningitis by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation following its meeting on 11 and 12 February.

Earl Howe: The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), the independent expert committee that advises the Government on all immunisation matters, has not yet made a final recommendation about the use of the meningococcal B vaccine Bexsero®. JCVI is due to report back in March 2014, having reviewed additional evidence at its meeting on 11 and 12 February 2014.

Health: Patient Records

Lord Beecham: To ask Her Majesty’s Government , further to the Written Answer by Earl Howe on 10 February (HL5199), whether patients will be able to withdraw consent for the release of their records under the current proposals to allow those to be shared for research purposes; and, if so, whether the shared records will be returned or otherwise be rendered inaccessible.

Earl Howe: A patient can withdraw consent for the release of their medical records from the different data collections the Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) is responsible for at any time by completing the 'Withdrawal of Consent' form, available to download directly from the FISCIC’s website, and providing proof of their identity.
	Patients' data will then be anonymised rather than removed.

Health: Polypill

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what analysis they have undertaken of the impact of the use of the Polypill among people above the age of (1) 50, and (2) 55, as proposed by the Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine, to reduce the risk of heart attack and strokes.
	To ask Her Majesty’s Government what comparison they have made between the impact of the use of the Polypill among people above the age of (1) 50, and (2) 55, as compared with the National Health Service Check programme to reduce the risk of heart attack and strokes.
	To ask Her Majesty’s Government what analysis they have undertaken of the efficacy and safety of the use of the Polypill among people above the age of (1) 50, and (2) 55, compared with the NHS Check programme to reduce the risk of heart attack and strokes.

Earl Howe: There are no “polypill” products approved for use as proposed by the Wolfson Institute of Preventative Medicine in the United Kingdom.
	An analysis comparing the impact, efficacy or safety of the polypill to the NHS Health Check programme has not been undertaken.

Health: Polypill

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what discussions they have had with the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency to encourage the licensing of the Polypill to reduce the risk of heart attack and strokes.

Earl Howe: There have been no discussions specifically to encourage the licensing of a “polypill” between the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and the Department or any other Government body. The MHRA, however, has supported and provided scientific advice to a number of sponsors and companies on their product development in this field. Any application for a marketing authorisation for a medicinal product, including those such as a polypill, will need to be supported by data demonstrating that the quality, safety and efficacy are satisfactory and that the risk to benefit profile is favourable for the proposed treatment before a licence is granted. There are currently no approved marketing authorisations for a product that meets the description of a “polypill”.

Health: Spinal Cord Injuries

Baroness Masham of Ilton: To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many beds there are for ventilated patients in each Spinal Cord Injury Centre in England; how many ventilated spinal cord injured patients in England are waiting to be admitted to beds in Spinal Cord Injury Centres, and what are the current waiting times listed by the Spinal Cord Injury Centre; and what are the causes of any delay in discharging spinal cord injured patients occupying those ventilated beds.

Earl Howe: There are eight Spinal Cord Injury Centres in England in total, of which six have ventilated beds.
	As at 6 December 2013, the total number of beds for ventilated patients was 29, the total number of ventilated patients waiting to be admitted to beds was 18 and the average current waiting time was 42 days.
	Delays in discharging spinal cord injured patients from ventilated beds may occur for a number of reasons. Due to patients’ complicated needs, the discharge planning for long term ventilator dependent patients can be lengthy and complex. Often, continuing healthcare funding is almost certain to be awarded, meaning that the clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) will be responsible for funding and sourcing care on discharge, wherever this is provided, which can also take time. In addition to this, the spinal unit requires early authorisation from CCGs to purchase the essential ventilators, respiratory equipment and consumables required for discharge. It may also be the case that further delays occur to allow for the specialist training of necessary
	care staff. Discharge dates of patients with complex needs such as these are often altered, which can delay the entire process.

Health: St Paul’s Way Health Centre

Lord Mawson: To ask Her Majesty’s Government how governance arrangements for collaborative projects between health, education, housing and community services, such as the St Paul’s Way Health Centre in Tower Hamlets, ensure the appropriate sharing of risk between the partners.
	To ask Her Majesty’s Government which organisation has overall responsibility for ensuring the collaboration of National Health Service bodies in the delivery of the St Paul’s Way Health Centre in Tower Hamlets, and ensuring that they deliver in an effective and timely manner.

Earl Howe: The Health and Social Care Act 2012 established specific functions for Health and Wellbeing Boards (HWB), including a duty to prepare Joint Strategic Needs Assessments and Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategies to meet the health needs of the local population. HWBs also have powers to encourage close working between commissioners of health-related services (such as housing and many other local government services) and commissioners of health and social care services.
	The St Paul’s Way Transformation Project is a component of the local Health and Wellbeing Strategy. Tower Hamlets HWB will be responsible for monitoring the strategy's implementation and will ensure that partners are working together effectively to meet the health and wellbeing needs of the borough.
	We are advised that it is for the project leads who are part of the St Paul’s Way Community Interest Company to ensure the appropriate sharing of risk between the partners.

Higher Education: Overseas Students

Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth: To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many students from China enrolled at tertiary educational institutions in the United Kingdom in each year since 2010.
	To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many students from India enrolled at tertiary educational institutions in the United Kingdom in each year since 2010.
	To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many students from Malaysia enrolled at tertiary educational institutions in the United Kingdom in each year since 2010.

Lord Wallace of Saltaire: The Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) collects and publishes data on student enrolments at UK Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). Statistics on enrolments at UK HEIs by students domiciled in China (including the Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and Macao), India and Malaysia prior to their course are provided in the table.
	Information on enrolments at UK HEIs in the academic year 2013/14 will become available from HESA in January 2015.
	
		
			 Enrolments domiciled (1) in China, Hong Kong, Macao, India and Malaysia 
			 UK Higher Education Institutions 
			 Academic Years 2010/11 to 2012/13 
			 Domicile 2010/11 2011/12 2012/13 
			 China 67,325 78,715 83,790 
			 Hong Kong (Special Administrative Region of China) 10,440 11,335 13,065 
			 Macao (Special Administrative Region of China) 265 325 345 
			 Sub Total 78,030 90,375 97,200 
			 India 39,090 29,900 22,385 
			 Malaysia 13,900 14,545 15,015 
		
	
	Source: Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) Student Record
	Notes: Figures are based on a HESA standard registration population and have been rounded up or down to the nearest five, so components may not sum to totals.
	(1)
	Domicile refers to a student’s permanent or home address prior to entry to their course

Higher Education: Sport

Lord Moynihan: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they intend to forge links with and between the British Olympic Association, the sports lottery providers and selected British universities to ensure that top sportsmen and women can tailor their academic pursuits with their international sports programmes; and what proposed initiatives already exist.

Lord Popat: UK Sport work closely with athletes to ensure that they can fit education around their training and competitions.
	The English Institute of Sport operates the Performance Lifestyle support service on behalf of UK Sport which is available to all athletes on the World Class Performance Programme. Athletes are entitled to apply for Personal Development Awards funding towards the costs of further education, career development or gaining vocational skills.

Homelessness: Rough Sleepers

Baroness Suttie: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to prevent the spread of tuberculosis among rough sleepers in the United Kingdom.

Baroness Stowell of Beeston: We are investing £470 million over the current spending review period to help local authorities and voluntary sector partners prevent and tackle homelessness, rough sleeping and repossessions.
	We have also supported the voluntary sector to deliver “StreetLink” a national rough sleeping hotline, website and app, to connect rough sleepers to local services. In London, “No Second Night Out” is making a big difference. The CHAIN annual data for 2012-13 shows that “No Second Night Out” helped ensure that three quarters (75%) of new rough sleepers spend just a single night on London’s streets. All local authorities have committed to adopt the “No Second Night Out” approach.
	The Housing Act 1996 places a statutory duty on local housing authorities to secure accommodation where an applicant is homeless through no fault of their own, eligible for assistance and is in priority need. The priority need categories include people who are vulnerable as a result of old age, mental illness or physical disability. Local authorities provide a range of emergency accommodation and priority will be determined locally.
	NHS London, since April 2011, has been funding a mobile X-ray unit to screen for tuberculosis (TB) in hard to reach groups in London and a “Find and Treat” service to help ensure people identified with suspected active TB by the mobile X-ray unit are supported in accessing appropriate services and to complete TB treatment. Find and Treat also finds TB patients who have been lost to TB services and supports them in re-engagement with services.
	Guidance from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence on identifying and managing tuberculosis in hard to reach groups recommends that local NHS and partner organisations should collaborate to provide accommodation for homeless people diagnosed with active pulmonary tuberculosis irrespective of their eligibility.

Homelessness: Rough Sleepers

Baroness Suttie: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to provide English language courses to non-native-English-speaking rough sleepers.

Baroness Stowell of Beeston: Homeless migrants, who satisfy residency rules and are in receipt of qualifying benefits may be entitled to attend courses in English and English for Speakers of Other Languages. But this Government’s first priority is to prevent migrant rough-sleeping.
	We are investing £470 million over the current spending review period to help local authorities and voluntary sector partners prevent and tackle all homelessness, rough sleeping and repossessions.
	We have supported the voluntary sector to deliver “StreetLink” a national rough sleeping hotline, website and app, to connect rough sleepers to local services. In London and in other major UK cities, 'No Second Night Out' is making a big difference. The CHAIN
	annual data for 2012-13 shows that “No Second Night Out” helped ensure that three quarters of new rough sleepers spend just a single night on London's streets.
	It is clearly a cause of concern that more than half of all rough sleepers in London are foreign nationals and this is why we are working to warn foreign nationals of the risks of coming to this country unprepared. My Department’s activities have included education campaigns led by the voluntary sector warning those coming here without appropriate support about the dangers of ending up destitute and sleeping rough on our streets. Those same campaigns make clear how other migrants have been successful in the UK and what conditions and attributes led to their success (for example, guaranteed employment before they left home, language skills etc).
	We want and need migrants to know they are very welcome and to encourage those who are ambitious for themselves and the contribution they can make to our country. But this Government is also clear that we must not make access to our benefits system or the opportunity to use public services a reason for people to come here.
	Where, sadly, a foreign national who does not have the right to remain in the UK is sleeping rough, the Government is working with local authorities and the third sector in supporting voluntary reconnection to a migrant’s home country where that is the most appropriate solution to their homelessness. In some cases those who do not satisfy residency rules and who refuse to return home voluntarily may have to be administratively removed. European Economic Area nationals who are begging or sleeping rough will be administratively removed. From the beginning of this year they will then be barred for re-entry for 12 months, unless they can prove they have a proper reason to be here, such as a job.

Horticulture: Peat

Lord Kennedy of Southwark: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they are taking to reduce the use of peat in horticulture.

Lord De Mauley: The Natural Environment White Paper set out our ambition to end the use of peat through a voluntary partnership with the horticultural sector by 2030.
	The Government response to the Sustainable Growing Media Task Force report was published in 2013 and is available to view on the GOV.UK website. It set out where our resources will be focussed over the next few years to assist in the transition to sustainable growing media and reduced peat use. We are committed to working with the industry to deliver the Roadmap towards Sustainable Growing Media and to overcome the barriers to peat reduction. For example, we are supporting the development of a performance standard and criteria for responsibly sourced and manufactured growing media.
	A policy review will take place in 2015 to assess the delivery of the roadmap and to identify further actions necessary.

House of Lords: Meat

Lord Hoyle: To ask the Chairman of Committees what percentage of (1) beef, (2) lamb, (3) bacon, (4) ham, and (5) pork, served in House of Lords catering outlets is produced in the United Kingdom.

Lord Sewel: 100% of the beef, lamb, ham and pork served in House of Lords catering outlets is produced in the United Kingdom.
	Approximately 20% of the bacon served in the House is produced in the United Kingdom. The other 80% is produced in the Netherlands, and is served in the River Restaurant only.

Housing

Lord German: To ask Her Majesty’s Government which local authorities have made an application for funds under the £20 million of additional discretionary housing payments from the Department for Work and Pensions.

Lord Freud: A £20 million Discretionary Housing Payment reserve fund was put in place to provide additional support for local authorities experiencing financial pressures following the implementation of the Removal of Spare Room Subsidy. Access to additional funding was via a bidding scheme which was open to all 380 local authorities in England, Scotland and Wales.
	By the time the scheme closed on 3rd February 2014 bids had been received from the following 86 local authorities:
	
		
			 Aberdeen Hart 
			 Ashford Hartlepool 
			 Barnsley Highland 
			 Basingstoke & Deane Inverclyde 
			 Birmingham Isle of Wight 
			 Bolton Islington 
			 Boston Kingston upon Hull 
			 Broxtowe Kingston upon Thames 
			 Caerphilly Knowley 
			 Canterbury Lambeth 
			 Cardiff Leeds 
			 Central Bedfordshire Lincoln 
			 Chelmsford Liverpool 
			 Cheshire West and Chester Manchester 
			 Chesterfield Melton 
			 Chichester Middlesbrough 
		
	
	
		
			 Clackmannanshire Midlothian 
			 Colchester Milton Keynes 
			 Conwy Newcastle upon Tyne 
			 Crawley North Ayrshire 
			 Derby North Kesteven 
			 Derbyshire Dales North Lanarkshire 
			 Dover North Tyneside 
			 Dudley Northumberland 
			 Dundee City Norwich 
			 Durham Nottingham 
			 Ealing Redcar and Cleveland 
			 Elmbridge Renfrewshire 
			 Fife Rushmoor 
			 Fylde Salford 
			 Gateshead Sefton 
			 Glasgow City Sheffield 
			 Greenwich South Lanarkshire 
			 Halton South Northamptonshire 
			 Haringey Southwark 
			 St Helens Trafford 
			 Stockport Warrington 
			 Swindon Welwyn Hatfield 
			 Tameside West Dunbartonshire 
			 Telford and Wrekin West Lothian 
			 Test Valley Wigan 
			 Thanet Winchester 
			 Tower Hamlets Wirral

Immigration

Lord Roberts of Llandudno: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what forms of appeal would be available to someone who has been deprived of their citizenship under the current proposals in the Immigration Bill.
	To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether, under the proposed reforms relating to the residence test applicable to those eligible for legal aid, legal aid would be available to someone who had been deprived of their citizenship under the amendment to section 40(4) of the British Nationality Act 1981 currently being considered as part of the Immigration Bill, were that deprivation to take place while the individual was outside the United Kingdom.

Lord Taylor of Holbeach: Any individual who is deprived of their citizenship including cases where action is taken under the provisions set out in the Bill, has a full right of appeal against the Secretary of State's decision. Where the Secretary of State certifies that her decision to deprive the individual of citizenship has been taken wholly or partly in reliance on information which should not be made public in the interests of national security, or in the interests of the relationship between the UK and another country or because it is otherwise not in the public interest to release the information, any appeal will be to the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC). If the decision is not so certified, any appeal will be to the Immigration & Asylum Chamber (First Tier).
	In both cases there is the opportunity for onward challenge to the Upper Tribunal or the Court of Appeal or other higher courts.
	Where an individual is outside the UK when they are served with the deprivation decision, they must bring their appeal from outside the UK.
	Legal aid reform will not substantively alter the current position of immigration applicants. Where the appeal against the deprivation of citizenship is to the Immigration and Asylum Chamber, legal aid is not currently available unless the applicant is an asylum claimant. This will be unchanged by the proposed reform.
	As set out in Transforming Legal Aid; Next Steps, the proposed residence test would not apply in certain categories of case which broadly relate to an individual's liberty, where the individual is particularly vulnerable or where the case relates to the protection of children. This includes proceedings before the SIAC, which will not be subject to the residence test, even where the appeal is brought from outside the UK.

Immigration

Baroness Smith of Basildon: To ask Her Majesty’s Government on how many occasions United Kingdom immigration officials have stopped and questioned individuals in-country, away from ports and borders, in each of the last five years.

Lord Taylor of Holbeach: The following table lists Enforcement visit encounters from January 2009 to September 2013.
	
		
			 Calendar year No. of Encounters 
			 2009 23,875 
			 2010 27,725 
			 2011 28,873 
			 2012 32,216 
			 2013 (Jan-Sep) 32,103 
			 Total 144,792 
		
	
	These figures relate to all individuals encountered on any type of enforcement operation conducted in the United Kingdom, other than those conducted at ports and borders.
	Whilst conducting enforcement operations, our officers will invite individuals to answer questions about their immigration status to those where there are reasonable grounds to suspect that they are immigration offenders. In accordance with Home Office guidance, our officers will record all individuals encountered, both offenders and non-offenders.
	These figures do not relate to number of unique individuals as a person may have been encountered on one or more occasions.

Immigration Bill

Lord Hylton: To ask Her Majesty’s Government why clause 18 of the Immigration Bill would enable the Secretary of State to impose a financial penalty on a landlord, without recourse to a court, and give that Minister
	discretion as to the amount of the penalty; and what precedent, if any, there is for such authority.

Lord Taylor of Holbeach: The provisions in the Immigration Bill relating to landlords are modelled closely on the existing civil penalty scheme for employers of illegal workers in the Immigration and Asylum Act 2006. Under the proposed scheme, a landlord will face a civil financial penalty for letting property to an illegal migrant if they have failed to comply with specified document checks. This civil scheme is distinct from criminal prosecution involving bringing a case to court, and the Bill does not create a criminal offence for landlords. The scheme incorporates important safeguards to ensure the arrangements are transparent and to protect the rights of landlords. The maximum level of penalty is specified at £3,000 on the face of the Bill (clauses 18 and 33), and may only be adjusted by affirmative resolution order. Penalties will operate in accordance with a scale set out in a statutory code of practice under clause 27, and landlords will have a right to object to the Secretary of State against a penalty (clause 24) and then to appeal to the civil courts (clause 25) on the grounds that they are not liable to the penalty, have established an excuse, or the level of penalty is too high.

Immigration: Detention

Lord Roberts of Llandudno: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Taylor of Holbeach on 7 January (WA 276), why the system of gathering data on the medical welfare of those detained for immigration purposes was changed.
	To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Taylor of Holbeach on 7 January (WA 276), what was the system for gathering data on the medical welfare of those detained for immigration purposes before 2012; and what is the system now.
	To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Taylor of Holbeach on 7 January (WA 276), how information relating to self harm would be (1) gathered, and (2) made publicly accessible, other than in response to Freedom of Information Act 2000 requests.

Lord Taylor of Holbeach: Management information relating to individuals placed on Assessment Care in Detention and Teamwork monitoring, or individuals requiring medical attention as a result of self harm, is part of data collated for internal performance monitoring. The data collation process was changed in 2012 to avoid duplication and to improve and rationalise data quality.
	Prior to 2012 data was collated centrally by month. After 2012 changes were made to the reporting frequency, data periods covered, and categories of data collected.
	Information on the number of incidents of self harm is management information and does not form part of published statistics. There are no plans to change this.

India

Lord Ahmed: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will make representations to the Indian authorities to release all Sikh political prisoners and to allow Sikhs to engage in peaceful political activity in support of Sikh demands, including the right to self-determination.

Lord Wallace of Saltaire: Our High Commission in New Delhi continues to monitor the general human rights situation in India and also maintains a dialogue with Indian officials about minority rights issues in India, including with regards to the Sikh community. Minority rights, including those of Sikhs, were discussed at the EU-India human rights dialogue on 27 November 2013.

India: Golden Temple, Amritsar

Lord Ahmed: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have any plans to apologise to the Sikh community for the advice given to the government of India in relation to the operation at the Golden Temple in 1984.

Lord Wallace of Saltaire: As the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague) said in his statement to the House on 4 February, Official report, Column 155: ‘if any of us thought that any British assistance had contributed to unnecessary loss of life and to suffering in this case, or in any other case, we would all want to say that that was a mistake and for the country to make an apology. But that is not what is established by the Cabinet Secretary’s report. The picture is very different from that, and we all have to base our opinions, in the end, on the facts.’

India: Golden Temple, Amritsar

Lord Ahmed: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they intend to release all documents relating to communications between the governments of the United Kingdom and India in respect of the operation at the Golden Temple in 1984 and the subsequent relationship between the government of India and its Sikh community up to the present day.

Lord Wallace of Saltaire: When the Cabinet Secretary’s report to the Prime Minister was published, the British Government also released a further five documents to explain the full picture of UK advice on this operation. As the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague), said in his statement to the House on 4 February: “we have taken this step because the whole investigation has been based on a commitment to the maximum possible transparency. We want to be as open as possible with the British public, in so far as that does not undermine the principle upheld by successive British governments of not revealing any information relating to Intelligence or Special Forces.” Copies of the report have been placed in the Libraries of both Houses.

India: Golden Temple, Amritsar

Lord Ahmed: To ask Her Majesty’s Government why they engaged with the government of India over the recent revelations about the role of the United Kingdom Government in the operation at the Golden Temple in 1984, and the investigation into the matter by Sir Jeremy Heywood; and whether they intend to make public the details of that engagement.

Lord Wallace of Saltaire: We shared the Cabinet Secretary’s report with the Indian government in advance as it relates to an Indian army operation and it was only appropriate to give them due notice. This was purely for their information. The Indian government had no input into the drafting of the report.

Insurance: Financial Products and Insurance

Lord Myners: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether any enforcement action has been taken by financial regulators in respect of individuals directly involved in, or overseeing, the mis-selling of retail financial products including payment protection insurance.

Lord Deighton: This question has been passed on to the FCA. The FCA will reply directly to the noble Lord by letter. A copy of the letter will be placed in the Library of the House.

Interception of Communications Commissioner

Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what, if any, reports they have received in the past 24 months from the Interception of Communications Commissioner in relation to any United States base operating in the United Kingdom.

Lord Astor of Hever: The Interception of Communications Commissioner reports annually to the Prime Minister and to Parliament. These reports discharge the Commissioner's role to keep under review the use of lawful interception within the UK, and the authorisation systems in place to control that use. The Ministry of Defence has received no reports in the last 24 months which make specific reference to any United States base operating in the UK.

Internet: Broadband

Baroness Jones of Whitchurch: To ask Her Majesty’s Government why it has been necessary further to delay the target delivery date of superfast broadband from 2015 to 2017, and what is their current assessment of the likelihood that the new target date will be met.

Lord Popat: The target date has not been changed. The Government announced 2017 as the date for extending superfast broadband to 95% of UK premises, the original target date of 2015 of superfast broadband for 90% of premises remains and has not been deferred. We are confident that the 2017 target date for extending coverage of superfast broadband is realistic.

Israel

Baroness Tonge: To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many Jewish students domiciled in the United Kingdom travel to Israel each year for military training.

Lord Astor of Hever: The Ministry of Defence does not hold this information.

Israel and Palestine: West Bank

Lord Hylton: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they are making to the government of Israel about reported clashes between its forces and volunteers at the village of Ein Hijleh in the West Bank on 6 or 7 February and the subsequent declaration of the area as a “closed military zone”.

Baroness Warsi: Officials from our Embassy in Tel Aviv recently raised our concerns about these reported events with the Israeli Defence Force.

Lobbying

Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town: To ask Her Majesty’s Government when the statutory register of lobbyists, introduced by the Transparency of Lobbying, Non-party Campaigning and Trade Union Administration Act 2014, is to be established.

Lord Wallace of Saltaire: The Government aims to establish the statutory register of lobbyists in good time before the end of this Parliament.

Mental Health

Lord Ouseley: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what consideration will be given to requests for an independent investigation into the number of black mental health patients undergoing coercive and discriminatory treatment, with particular reference to the roles of the police, including Armed Response Units, the Care Quality Commission and the Independent Police Complaints Commission.
	To ask Her Majesty’s Government what responses have been made to Black Mental Health UK since 2010 about their concerns and representation on behalf of black mental health patients reportedly experiencing coercive and discriminatory treatment, and in particular in respect of the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust.

Earl Howe: We are aware of the concerns of many stakeholders about levels of physical restraint in mental health settings and in particular about the use of physical restraint in respect of patients from black and minority ethnic communities. Current guidance, including the Mental Health Act Code of Practice, make it clear that physical restraint is only used as a last resort in the management and containment of conflict in mental health wards. The Government’s aim, as set out in Closing the Gap: Priorities for Essential Change in Mental Health, a copy of which has already been placed in the Library, is to radically reduce the use of all restrictive practices and take action to end the use of high risk restraint, including face down restraint and holding people on the floor.
	We have asked the Royal College of Nursing, working with other relevant organisations and service users, to produce new guidance on minimising restrictive practices across health and social care. This guidance specifically refers to the fact that high quality care should be the experience of all service users, including those who are more at risk of being restrained for whatever reason.
	We have also commissioned Skills for Care and Skills for Health to develop guidance to support the commissioning of training in positive behaviour support, de-escalation and restraint reduction techniques.
	To support this, later in the year, we will announce a two-year programme “Positive and Safe”. We will consider further measures needed to ensure the required changes happen, particularly in relation to training, information and regulation.
	The Care Quality Commission’s (CQC’s) recent report, Monitoring the Mental Health Act in 2012/13, makes it clear that on the rare occasions when it is necessary to call the police to manage patients’ behaviour, this remains a response to ‘exceptional circumstances where staff are not able to safely manage behaviour, despite implementation of all relevant national guidance on staff training and the establishment of therapeutic environments’. It also emphasises the need for clear protocols between all relevant organisations.
	As part of developing rapid and appropriate responses to any person in mental health crisis, the Department and the Home Office have worked with a range of organisations, including Black Mental Health UK (BMHUK), to develop a new national Crisis Care Concordat, which clearly sets out what kind of support people in mental health crisis should receive and makes it clear that there should be a protocol about when, very exceptionally, police need to be called to manage patient behaviour in a health or care setting. In these exceptional cases, health professionals continue to be responsible for the health and safety of the person.
	The CQC is committed to the delivery of the Crisis Care Concordat. In 2014, it will conduct a thematic programme focussing on the experience and outcomes of people in mental health crisis (including people from black and minority ethnic communities) and will publish its national report in the Autumn.
	On 12 February 2013 the Government announced in a statement on police integrity its intention to transfer resources from forces to The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC). This will enable the IPCC to deal with all sensitive and serious cases involving the police and put an end to the police investigating the police in serious cases. On 18 December 2013 the Home Office indicated that in 2014-15 it will provide £18 million from the police settlement to build up the capacity and capability of the IPCC to take on additional cases.
	We are aware that South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust (SLaM) has an extensive history of engagement with the communities it serves, including those represented by BMHUK.
	There are currently no plans to conduct a further independent review following Lord Adebowale’s Independent Commission on Mental Health and Policing Report.

National Audit Office

Lord Mendelsohn: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Stowell of Beeston on 16 December 2013 (WA 147), what are the itemised costings that they expect the National Audit Office to incur in conducting six value for money examinations for £1.7 million; and why that
	estimated cost is greater than that of the three value for money studies conducted by the Audit Commission of which the direct costs totalled £155,000.
	To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Stowell of Beeston on 16 December 2013 (WA 147), what is the source for the information about the National Audit Office; and how it is consistent with the National Audit Office’s published strategy for 2014/15 to 2016/17 which states that they will carry out eight value for money studies each year, costing £2.5 million.

Baroness Stowell of Beeston: The expected cost of £1.7 million a year for six value for money studies by the National Audit Office, was based on an estimate supplied by the National Audit Office, and approved by the Public Accounts Commission. The National Audit Office is currently working up its detailed work programme and costings in anticipation of commencement of the Comptroller and Auditor General’s new powers under the Local Audit and Accountability Act.
	The respective costs of value for money work incurred by the Audit Commission, and those estimated by the National Audit Office are not directly comparable. The remit, scope and nature of work vary from study to study, and costs will depend on the work required to complete each examination. In addition, the National Audit Office’s estimated costs include all costs; the Audit Commission’s costs referred to previously exclude other and overhead costs, which are unavailable.
	The National Audit Office has confirmed that the £2.5 million figure in its approved strategy for 2014/15 to 2016/17 includes additional work that is unrelated to the Local Audit and Accountability Act. This work focuses primarily on two value for money studies on NHS Foundation Trusts and will be completed under the National Audit Office’s existing powers. £1.7 million of the £2.5 million stated in their. strategy represents the estimated cost of the six additional studies that the National Audit Office expects to undertake as a consequence of its new powers under the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014.
	More broadly, the abolition of the Audit Commission regime will deliver a net £1.2 billion of savings for taxpayers over a ten year period.

NATO: UK Personnel

Baroness Falkner of Margravine: To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many (1) women, and (2) men, have been appointed as United Kingdom permanent representative to NATO.

Lord Wallace of Saltaire: The number of women and men who have been appointed as Permanent Representative to the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation since 1984 are as follows:
	Female—1
	Male—8

Network of African Science Academies–European Academies’ Science Advisory Council

The Countess of Mar: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs will represent the policy of the Scottish and Welsh Governments as well as the United Kingdom Government when he speaks at the Network of African Science Academies–European Academies’ Science Advisory Council workshop in Addis Ababa on 26 February 2014; whether any Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs officials will accompany him; and what is the current estimated cost to the Exchequer.

Lord De Mauley: Although the Secretary of State was billed to speak at this event, in fact no Defra Ministers or officials will be attending.

NHS England

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the policy of NHS England in respect of disclosing all potential conflicts of interest of those who work for it.

Earl Howe: NHS England has advised that its “Standards of Business Conduct” policy, which is published on its website, requires all staff to declare any interest, either on appointment or when the interest is acquired, which may directly or indirectly give rise to an actual or potential conflict of interest. This can be found at:
	www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/stand-bus-cond.pdf
	The policy outlines potential conflicts to assist staff in making a declaration and requires a register to be maintained and reviewed annually by the Board Secretary.

NHS England

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the policy of NHS England in respect of registering its meetings with lobbyists.

Earl Howe: NHS England has advised that it does not require staff to record all meetings with outside bodies. However, any form of hospitality must be recorded in accordance with its published standards of conduct, and a register of such hospitality is maintained.
	NHS England supports discussions with the wider health and social care system, patients, the public, industry and their representatives. These discussions are essential to inform its work, learn from best practice elsewhere, identify areas for improvement and encourage innovation.

NHS England

Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what code of conduct or other guidance applies to NHS England when commissioning reports or when meeting representatives of pharmaceutical companies.

Earl Howe: NHS England supports on-going discussions with the wider health and social care system, patients, the public, industry and their representatives, as an essential way to inform its work, learn from best practice elsewhere, identify areas for improvement and encourage innovation.
	NHS England has in place principles and procedures for managing and registering potential conflicts of interests, which are set out in the Standards of Business Conduct guidance, and is available on its website:
	www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/stand-bus-cond.pdf
	NHS England does not require staff to record all meetings with outside bodies. However, any form of hospitality must be recorded in accordance with its published standards of conduct, and a register of such hospitality is maintained.

NHS: Accident and Emergency Services

Lord Taylor of Warwick: To ask Her Majesty’s Government how they will maintain the standards of accident and emergency care and ensure that doctors are available at all times.

Earl Howe: Maintaining responsive urgent and emergency care services across the country is a priority for the Government. The Mandate sets out the Government’s requirements for NHS England to improve outcomes in a range of areas. It is the role of NHS England to give serious consideration as to how it will support the commissioning system to deliver these outcomes.
	Accident and emergency (A&E) care is evaluated on the national standard that 95% of patients should not wait more than four hours in an A&E department from arrival to transfer, discharge or admission to a bed in the hospital.
	In April 2011, the Department introduced eight clinical quality indicators that put in place more meaningful performance measures that balance timeliness of care with other indicators of quality, including clinical outcomes and patient experience.
	The indicators are:
	Percentage of patients with certain ambulatory care sensitive conditions admitted to hospital;
	Unplanned re-attendance rate;
	Total time in the A&E department;
	Left without being seen rate;
	Service experience;
	Time to initial assessment;
	Time to treatment; and
	Consultant sign-off.
	These indicators will be further reviewed by Sir Bruce Keogh’s review into urgent and emergency care, which is closely linked to the Seven Days a Week forum.
	Looking forward to the introduction of seven day services, we will expect all NHS services to be able to meet patients’ needs as they arise.
	To do this, trusts should adopt the Seven Days a Week forum clinical standards to ensure that patients have seven day access to the services they need, driving up clinical outcomes and improving patient experience at weekends.
	The standards cover:
	— Patient experience;—Time to first consultant review;—Multi-disciplinary team (MDT) review;—Shift handovers;—Diagnostics;—Intervention / key services;—Mental health;—On-going review;—Transfer to community, primary and social care; and—Quality improvement.
	NHS England’s ambition is for all the clinical standards to be adopted in every community in England by the end of 2016-17.

NHS: Clinical Senates

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: To ask Her Majesty’s Government who are the chairs and members of each of England’s National Health Service clinical senates.
	To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many meetings each of England’s clinical senates had in 2013; and whether any of those were held in public.
	To ask Her Majesty’s Government what were the budgets for each of England’s clinical senates in 2013; and whether details of their expenditure will be recorded and made public.
	To ask Her Majesty’s Government how clinical senates are embracing the views of those who work in the health service who are not doctors.
	To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the budget of each of the four National Health Service clinical networks.
	To ask Her Majesty’s Government what has been the impact the work of the four National Health Service clinical networks on clinical commissioning groups and others in 2013.

Earl Howe: NHS England has established clinical senates in 12 geographical areas to be a source of independent, strategic advice and guidance to commissioners and other stakeholders to assist them to make the best decisions about healthcare for the populations they represent.
	They have a multi-professional membership to ensure clinical representation encompasses the breadth of professions. This includes nurses, midwives and allied health professionals, as well as doctors. Membership encompasses the ‘birth to death’ spectrum of National Health Service care and also includes patient representatives.
	A full membership list for each of the 12 clinical senates, including Chairs, has been placed in the Library.
	Clinical senates are comprised of a core Clinical Senate Council and a wider Clinical Senate Assembly or Forum. The number of meetings held by each of the 12 clinical senates in 2013 is shown in the following table. NHS England has advised that none of these meetings were held in public.
	
		
			 Clinical Senate Meetings in 2013 
			 London Four* 
			 West Midlands Four* 
			 East Midlands Two* 
			 East of England Three, plus one stakeholder day 
			 Greater Manchester, Lancashire & South Cumbria One launch event 
			 Cheshire and Merseyside None, as the Clinical Senate is still in the early stages of development 
			 Northern England One 
			 Yorkshire and Humber None (first meeting scheduled for 7 March 2014) 
			 South West Two 
			 South East Three 
			 Thames Valley One 
			 Wessex Two 
		
	
	*These were specified by NHS England as being meetings of the Clinical Senate Council.
	There are 12 Strategic Clinical Networks (SCNs), which are aligned to Clinical Senate geographical regions. They are managed by 12 'host' Area Teams with oversight by the Area Team Medical Director and Area Team Director. Established in 2013, the SCNs serve key areas of major health and wellbeing challenge.
	NHS England has identified four priority service areas for SCNs, which can also be referred to as 'clinical networks'. These are:
	Cardiovascular (including cardiac, stroke, renal and diabetes);Maternity, Children and Young People;Mental Health, Dementia and Neurological Conditions; andCancer.
	The size of each is locally determined, based on patient flows and clinical relationships and each region may develop other clinical networks depending on local need. The networks have been developing priorities in conjunction with their stakeholders which include
	all commissioners (clinical commissioning group (CCG) and specialised commissioning), providers, third sector and patients.
	Work plans for the four clinical areas have been aligned with CCG plans to deliver maximum impact and the clinical networks have provided clinical support and advice on related issues. They are also leading work to inform areas of specialised commissioning. Clinical advice is being made available to support the development of CCGs’ two year operational plans and five year strategic plans.
	NHS England has advised that there has been no formal assessment of impact of the networks to date. However, there is an oversight group for each SCN and this monitors progress against the SCN annual plans, which were signed off in 2013.
	NHS England allocates combined funding for Clinical Senates and SCNs in each of the 12 regions. It is not possible to determine the budget for each of the four priority service areas, as resources are shared at the regional level. The following table shows the combined 2013 budgets for Clinical Senates and Strategic Clinical Networks by geographical region.
	
		
			 Geographical Region Running Costs Programme Costs Total 
			 London £210,593 £5,251,979 £5,465,572 
			 West Midlands £833,000 £3,433,000 £4,266,000 
			 East Midlands £819,396 £2,824,715 £3,644,111 
			 East of England £843,057 £3,572,600 £4,406,657 
			 Greater Manchester, Lancashire & South Cumbria £833,000 £2,606,000 £3,439,000 
			 Cheshire and Merseyside £833,000 £1,447,000 £2,280,000 
			 Northern England £833,000 £1,879,000 £2,712,000 
			 Yorkshire and Humber £833,000 £3230,000 £4,063,000 
			 South West £893,682 £2,931,700 £3,825,382 
			 South East £832,999 £2,727,339 £3,560,338 
			 Thames Valley £868,080 £1,481,493 £2,349,573 
			 Wessex £812,225 £1,786,086 £2,598,311 
		
	
	Notes:
	1. Running costs include any cost incurred that is not a direct payment for the provision of healthcare or healthcare related services. Examples include business support services, the provision of policy advice, cost of accommodation and office services.
	2. Programme costs include any costs that relate to direct payments for the provision of healthcare or healthcare related services. Examples of programme costs for the senates and networks include the work being done on cancer, maternity, children's health, cardiovascular (cardiac, stroke, renal, diabetes), mental health, dementia and neurosciences.

NHS: Data

Lord Beecham: To ask Her Majesty’s Government how the inclusion on the Health and Social Care Information Centre’s table Data Linkage and Extract Service Charges: 2013–14 of prices for selling identifiable personal data, including “a one-off extract tailored to the customer’s requirements of specified data fields containing patient identifiable data, sensitive data items or both” is compatible with assurances that patient confidentiality will remain inviolable.

Earl Howe: There are very strict rules about what information the Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) can release to the National Health Service and to outside organisations.
	Under provisions in the Health and Social Care Act 2012, HSCIC cannot publish or release data that identifies or enables the identification of any individual without a legal basis to do so.
	While the HSCIC charges a fee to cover its costs—for example, the costs of linking data from different sources for a specific purpose—it does not make profits from providing data to other organisations, nor does it subsidise any applicants to receive the data. Charges are provided on the HSCIC website in order to be transparent.
	Anonymised information does not identify any individuals. Information that identifies an individual or enables an individual to be identified can only be disclosed where there is already a legal basis for doing so.
	Only researchers who have obtained the patient’s express permission or who have been granted legal approval are allowed to access information that identifies individuals. Only the Secretary of State or the Health Research Authority can grant this legal approval and they do so following independent advice from the Confidentiality Advisory Group (CAG). The CAG considers each individual application against the legal framework.

NHS: Francis and Keogh Reports

Baroness Browning: To ask Her Majesty’s Government why they are targeting resources to implement the Francis and Keogh reports at acute healthcare providers and not mental health providers.

Earl Howe: A service development uplift of £150 million was agreed to address emerging quality pressures associated with implementing recommendations from the Keogh and Francis reviews.
	NHS England and Monitor took an independent decision to focus on the acute sector where they found evidence of significant emerging pressures was greatest.
	NHS England and Monitor are committed to making an evidence-based approach to pricing decisions and will work with all parts of the health service, including mental health, to understand the cost pressures that they face to inform the price setting process for 2015-16.
	The Government has enshrined in law the equal importance of mental health and physical health. We have made improving mental health and treating mental illness a key priority.

NHS: Francis and Keogh Reports

Baroness Browning: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking while implementing the Francis and Keogh reports to achieve parity of esteem between mental and physical health.

Earl Howe: The Government has enshrined in law the equal importance of mental health and physical health and we have made improving mental health and treating mental illness a key priority. Whilst the events at Mid Staffordshire were primarily the result of failings in the acute sector, the Government’s response to the Francis inquiry sets out measures which are intended to reform the entire health and care system. Hard Truths: the Journey to Putting Patients First explicitly makes reference throughout the document to the numerous measures that apply to social care and mental health alongside core NHS services. Similarly, mental health was specifically explored through the Keogh Review’s examination of urgent care pathways and the Care Quality Commission is currently developing its improved methodology on mental health inspections.
	Key actions applicable across mental health as well as physical health include:
	appointments of new chief inspectors for hospitals, primary care and social care;a new set of simpler fundamental standards that make explicit the basic standards beneath which care should never fall;a failure regime for quality as well as finance;improving the quality of training and expected conduct of healthcare assistants to ensure safer and compassionate care;a new statutory duty of candour on organisations and strengthening candour in professionals’ codes and guidance;new leadership programme for nursing and clinical staff;transparent monthly reporting of ward-by-ward staffing levels and other safety measures;a new programme to promote patient safety across all healthcare settings;andbetter support for patients who need to raise a complaint and better trust information about their complaints including quarterly reporting of complaints data and lessons learned by trusts, and the Ombudsman to significantly increase the number of cases she considers.

NHS: Patient Deaths

Lord Taylor of Warwick: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to improve the investigation of patient deaths occurring under National Health Service care.

Earl Howe: NHS England is currently reviewing the National Health Service Serious Incident Framework. This describes the principles and procedures that all organisations providing, commissioning or overseeing NHS-funded care should follow when responding to Serious Incidents. Serious Incidents by definition include all unexpected or avoidable deaths in NHS-funded care. The revised Framework will provide up to date guidance on the appropriate response to such deaths, including how investigations should be carried out and quality assured to deliver learning and improvement of services.
	The current Framework is available at:
	www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/sif-guide.pdf
	NHS England is also working on plans for a Root Cause Analysis (RCA) Investigation academy to drive good practice in the use of RCA investigation, ensuring its full potential is harnessed in order to inform learning and measurable patient safety improvement.
	In addition reforms to the process of death certification and the coroner service, including the appointment of a Chief Coroner, will help identify appropriate cases for referral to the coroner for further investigation as well as benefiting bereaved families across England and Wales by creating more effective coroners services.

NHS: Seven-day Working

Baroness Manzoor: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the remarks by Earl Howe on 6 February (HL Deb, col 309), what assessment they have undertaken of the risk of patients and their relatives taking legal action as a result of poor outcomes, including a higher risk of death to patients, at the weekend.

Earl Howe: No assessment has been undertaken of the risk of patients and their relatives taking legal action as a result of poor outcomes at the weekends.

Northern Ireland: Flags and Parades

Lord Maginnis of Drumglass: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Randerson on 20 January (WA 85), whether the phrase “under current arrangements”, together with “not directly
	participating”, indicates that they or the government of the Republic of Ireland have been indirectly participating, or intend to participate directly, in those talks; whether they share the view expressed in recent comments by the Foreign Minister of the Republic of Ireland, Eamon Gilmore, that the two governments should intervene if necessary; and, if so, to what extent they consider that course of action consistent with Strand 1 of the Belfast Agreement.

Baroness Randerson: The Haass process was initiated by the parties themselves and as the Prime Minister has pointed out, there is no question of the Government imposing a solution from outside that does not have the backing of Northern Ireland’s political leadership. The Government remains in close contact with the NI parties and is looking at how best to support their efforts. The Irish Government too wants to support efforts to secure cross-party agreement. This approach is in complete conformity with the Belfast Agreement.

Overseas Aid

The Earl of Sandwich: To ask Her Majesty’s Government how they assess the safety of aid workers following recent events in Juba; and to what extent aid and development programmes, especially humanitarian, health and education programmes supported by the United Kingdom, will continue to be provided as before.

Baroness Northover: Aid agencies are doing an invaluable job under difficult circumstances in responding to the current crisis in South Sudan. The situation remains difficult with access to many of those in need constrained, including as a result of insecurity. We have called upon all parties to the conflict to ensure safe and secure access for humanitarian agencies and to respect their neutrality. We condemn interference in the humanitarian response and the violence that has resulted in the deaths of three aid workers since December.
	Before the current crisis, South Sudan was already one of the least developed countries in the world with over half of its population living below the poverty line. Alongside our emergency humanitarian funding, DfID had a long term development programme targeted at primary education, providing health care and nutrition, tackling hunger and strengthening justice and security.
	With over 700,000 people displaced within South Sudan and 145,000 to neighbouring countries, DfID’s priority in the past few weeks has been to assess and respond to the immediate humanitarian situation. We are also currently working with key partners to determine to what extent we can continue to deliver important elements of our development programme, including to help meet needs in health, education and food security, especially for the most vulnerable.

Overseas Conflict: Explosive Weapons

Lord Dubs: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the recommendations of the United Nations Secretary-General and the International Committee of the Red Cross that explosive weapons with a wide impact area should be avoided in densely populated areas.

Baroness Warsi: The British Government’s view is there is no utility in attempting to describe, beyond the current provisions given under International Humanitarian Law, a category of “explosive weapons with wide impact area”. We condemn the indiscriminate or disproportionate use of any weapon, including the deliberate targeting of civilians and civilian objects. The UK fully complies with and is a champion of International Humanitarian Law which makes provision for the use of lethal force only with adequate precautions, and is committed to upholding the Geneva Conventions and encouraging others to do the same.

Pensions

Baroness Hollis of Heigham: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the remarks by Lord Freud on 15 January (HL Deb, col GC 144), what is their estimate of the annual cost of overseas healthcare and other benefits for survivors’ dependents if the new Bereavement Support Payment is treated as a survivor pension under European Union law.

Lord Freud: The information requested is not available. DWP has to date not made such an assessment.

Pets for the Elderly Foundation

Lord Hanningfield: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what provision they are making to provide further support to the Pets for the Elderly Foundation.

Earl Howe: The Department is currently providing no support to the Pets for the Elderly Foundation and has no plans to do so in the future.

Quangos

Lord Stoddart of Swindon: To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many quangos there were in December 2013; how the numbers compare with those in May 2010; whether they have plans to disband any further quangos; and, if so, which.

Lord Wallace of Saltaire: In 2010 the Government pledged to reduce the number and cost of public bodies. By December 2013, the Government had abolished more than 180 bodies with more than 160 bodies merged into fewer than 70 bodies. This represents over 90% of all planned abolitions and mergers. The number of public bodies will have reduced by 300 by March 2015. This is the largest restructuring of public bodies in a generation, making the landscape smaller, more accountable, more efficient, less costly, and offering better value for money to the public.

Railways: Cornwall

Lord Myners: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they intend to take to support the economy and people of Cornwall as a result of the cessation of train services to the remainder of the country.

Baroness Kramer: The focus for the Government at this time is three-fold:
	• to ensure that damaged rail infrastructure is repaired and full rail services restored as quickly as possible; • in the meantime to ensure that alternative transport options are provided so that Cornwall’s communities and businesses continue to have effective transport connections with the rest of the country: and• to examine for the longer term measures for improving the resilience of transport links into Cornwall, including potential options for alternative routes.
	In the immediate term the Department for Transport is working hard with train and bus operators and Network Rail, the Highways and Maritime and Coastguard Agencies, in addition to airlines and airport operators, to ensure that the immediate needs of the area are met following the severe weather and flooding.
	In particular, the Department has worked closely with Flybe to ensure that additional capacity, through increased flight frequency and larger aircraft, is added to the air route between Newquay and London. Flybe have also committed to maintaining their normal pricing structure on these flights. To benefit air passengers further, Newquay Cornwall Airport has agreed temporarily to suspend the £5 Airport Development Fee payable by all departing passengers. My Rt. Hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Transport
	has also chaired an urgent resilience meeting with bus and coach operators to ensure that all necessary extra services are in place to reduce the impacts of severe weather across the country. Coach operators have laid on thousands of extra seats to ease the pressure in the worst affected areas.
	In addition, First Great Western has put in place special ticketing arrangements so that rail passengers who are affected by flood disruption in Cornwall do not miss out on cheaper advance fares while revised timetables are in place.
	We can then turn our attention to measures that can support the rapid recovery of the economy in the South West. This includes a review of options for improving the resilience of transport infrastructure.
	This, in combination with the Government’s wider efforts to reduce the impact of the severe weather, including making the armed forces available to those areas worst impacted, will help the country to get back on track as quickly as possible.

Railways: High Speed 2

Lord Greaves: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what consideration they are giving to possible amendments to the proposed routes for HS2 north of Birmingham that could provide the ability to run through class-compatible HS2 trains between London and Bradford, and between London and York, Newcastle and central Scotland via Leeds.

Baroness Kramer: The consultation on Phase Two of HS2, the routes from the West Midlands to Leeds, Manchester and beyond, closed on 31st January. Responses are now being analysed by an independent response analysis company and will feed into proposals for changes to the line of route. The Secretary of State for Transport will announce his decision on the proposed Phase Two route by the end of 2014.

Schools: Physical Activity

Lord Taylor of Warwick: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of rising obesity levels, what plans they have to ensure that children in schools undertake sufficient levels of physical activity.

Lord Nash: We are seeing encouraging signs of progress on obesity, with rates in children falling to 14% in 2012, the lowest level of child obesity since 1998, but we still have much further to go.
	London 2012 inspired the country to enjoy sport, and the Government wants to embed that enjoyment of sport and physical activity in children from an early age, so that children develop a lifetime habit of healthy activity. Through the cross-Government primary physical education (PE) and sport premium we are providing
	over £450 million of ring-fenced funding across academic years 2013/14, 2014/15 and 2015/16. This goes directly to primary schools, to be spent on the improvement of PE and sport, so that all children benefit from high quality teaching, and have the opportunity to compete against their peers. Building on this, the Prime Minister pledged on 6 February that this funding would continue until 2020, a significant commitment to the health of our children and young people.
	The Department of Health are also currently providing Change4Life Sports Clubs in over 10,000 primary and secondary schools - each designed to offer schools a way of reaching the least active, including those who may not be attracted to sport. Almost 38,000 children in primary Change4Life Sports Clubs now take part in 60 minutes of physical activity every day.

Skills Funding Statement

Baroness Whitaker: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon on 30 January (WA 244), whether they will consult Gypsy, Traveller and Roma organisations on the wording of the statement reminding training providers of their Equality Act duties for the next Skills Funding Statement; and when they plan to publish this.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: We did not consult on the wording as it is simply a reminder about existing duties under the Equality Act and the requirement to make reasonable adjustments. The Skills Funding Statement was published on 10 February and is available on the www.gov.uk website. The Statement also includes a section on equality and diversity data.

South Sudan

Lord Alton of Liverpool: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what discussions they have had with President Museveni about the role of the Ugandan military in the conflict in South Sudan.

Baroness Warsi: The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my Rt. Hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague), spoke with Ugandan President Museveni on 3 January about the conflict in South Sudan, including the Ugandan military role. The UK’s Envoy for the South Sudan talks met President Museveni on 17 January to discuss the Ugandan and regional response to the conflict. Alongside our Troika and EU partners, we have been clear since the outbreak of conflict of the risks of any military intervention by South Sudan’s neighbours.
	The Cessation of Hostilities Agreement signed on 23 January provides for the withdrawal of allied forces from the theatre of operations, and we will be monitoring closely the adherence of all forces to this agreement.

Sport: Olympic Winter Sports

Lord Moynihan: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they intend to continue to fund outstanding Olympic winter sport student athletes with Talented Athlete Scholarship Scheme (TASS) funding for the 2014 to 2018 quadrennium; how many winter sports athletes are currently supported on the programme; and how many English Institute of Sport-funded psychologists, physiologists and coaches are supported to assist those on the TASS programme.

Lord Popat: UK Sport funding provided to Sports Aid for the Talented Athlete Scholarship Scheme (TASS) is confirmed until September 2014. UK Sport and Sport England continue to work together on talent development in England, with the future funding of TASS under consideration.
	The 2013/14 TASS programme supports 39 winter sport athletes, 4 of whom are currently in Sochi. Around 50% of Team GB in Sochi have been through the TASS programme.
	TASS has its own network of support via the TASS Universities Hub Network and does not use the EIS network or their staff.

Sport: Olympic Winter Sports

Lord Moynihan: To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much financial support has been invested from lottery and government funding in each of the Olympic winter sport disciplines from 2010 to 2014 inclusive.

Lord Popat: Funding for Olympic Winter Sport disciplines from 2010 to 2014 are as follows:
	
		
			 Olympic Sport Funding award (£) 
			 Bobsleigh (combined) £3,304,250 
			 Curling £2,055,100 
			 Figure Skating £174,338 
			 Short Track Speed Skating £2,953,400 
			 Skeleton £3,447,600 
			 Ski and Snowboard £1,509,950 
			 Total £13,444,638

Sport: Olympic Winter Sports

Lord Moynihan: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to support the development of coaching in slopestyle snowboarding at dry ski slopes and indoor snow centres in the United Kingdom.

Lord Popat: Sport England is investing £1.5 million to get more people skiing and snowboarding in England. This investment supports and develops paid and volunteer
	coaches to get more people skiing and help talented skiers and snowboarders to develop and progress within the sport.

Sport: Olympic Winter Sports

Lord Moynihan: To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many dry ski slopes and indoor snow centres there are in the United Kingdom; and how much investment from both government funding and lottery funding directly supports coaching and access for young people for each winter sport discipline in each such facility.

Lord Popat: At present there are 83 skiing and snowboarding facilities in the UK. There are 67 dry ski slopes, six indoor snow centres and 10 outdoor natural snow centres.
	Sport England is investing £1.5 million of lottery and exchequer money to get more people skiing and snowboarding in England. This investment focuses on 16 skiing and snowboarding hubs across England as well as Snowsport England’s programme Go Ski Go Board which gives young people over the age of 14 a six week coached introduction to the sports.

Sport: Olympic Winter Sports

Lord Moynihan: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have any programmes to link primary school children living in the catchment areas of dry ski slopes and indoor snow centres to coaching programmes at those centres in the winter sports disciplines; and, if so, where such programmes are currently operating.

Lord Popat: Snowsport England works with the English Schools Ski Association (ESSKIA) to establish and maintain links between primary schools and local ski slopes to give more children and young people the opportunity to go skiing and snowboarding. ESSKIA has representatives working in Bromley, Gloucester, Hemel, Pendle, Silksworth, Southampton and Stoke.

State Aid

Lord Stoddart of Swindon: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Viscount Younger of Leckie on 23 January concerning European Union powers relating to state aid to United Kingdom undertakings (WA 166), what are the 26 cases before the European Commission; and what is the timescale for discussion of those cases.

Viscount Younger of Leckie: Since the previous Written Answer, 4 of the 26 cases have received approval from the European Commission. These are:
	- All-Island Collaborative R&D Scheme (Innova) - prolongation- Enterprise Capital Funds
	- Scottish R&D&I Scheme- Support for land remediation – prolongation
	One further case has been put on hold by the UK, and 4 new cases have been notified. The 25 cases currently before the Commission are therefore as follows:
	1. Agricultural and Horticultural Levy Board Market Research Scheme2. Agricultural and Horticultural Levy Board Technical Support Scheme3. Aid for indirect carbon price floor costs 4. Amendment to SA.35565 - Renewables Obligation (RO) scheme 5. Electricity Market Reform: Capacity Market6. Electricity Market Reform - Investment Contract (early Contract for Difference) for the Hinkley Point C New Nuclear Power Station7. Electricity Market Reform - Renewables Contract for Difference 8. English Woodland Grant Scheme 9. Government support to the Thames Tideway Tunnel project 10. Green Bus Fund 11. Isles of Scilly Airlinks12. Isles of Scilly and Penzance sealinks13. Liverpool City Council Cruise Liner Terminal 14. The Marine Energy Array Demonstrator (MEAD) Scheme15. Modifications to NEST pension scheme 16. Northern Ireland Gas Pipeline - extension to the West and the North West17. Partnership support for regeneration18. R&D&I Scheme for Northern Ireland - extension to 31 December 201919. Regional Stadia Development in Northern Ireland20. Renewables Obligation in Northern Ireland21. Regional Growth Fund - Jaguar LandRover (JLR)22. Update to the UK Film Tax Relief23. Video games tax relief24. Waste Contract to provide waste disposal services for spent fuel and intermediate level waste (ILW) from new nuclear power stations25. Welsh Red Meat Advertising Scheme
	As set out in the Procedural Regulation 659/1999, the Commission is required to conclude the preliminary examination of notified cases within two months of receiving the complete notification. From pre-notification to decision, cases are usually before the Commission for between 6 and 18 months.

Sudan

Lord Alton of Liverpool: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of President Omar al-Bashir’s declaration that counter-insurgency operations will be completed in South Kordofan and Blue Nile states in 2014, followed by the completion of military operations in Darfur.

Baroness Warsi: We are greatly concerned that the Government of Sudan continues to pursue a military victory in Darfur, Blue Nile and Southern Kordofan. It is clear that the only resolution of these conflicts lies in dialogue and political reconciliation to address their causes, not in military means.
	In Darfur we are urging all parties to ensure full unhindered humanitarian access, and pressing the Government of Sudan to honour its commitments under the Doha peace agreement. In Blue Nile and Southern Kordofan we are pressing the Government of Sudan and Sudanese People’s Liberation Movement-North to negotiate a cessation of hostilities and full humanitarian access. We welcome the African Union’s invitation to both sides to begin talks in Addis Ababa on 13 February. We believe that a national process of reform is also needed to address the wider problems of governance and democratic accountability in Sudan that lie behind these conflicts.

Sudan

Lord Alton of Liverpool: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of actions of the government of Sudan in carrying out aerial bombardment in South Kordofan and Blue Nile states and in the denial of access by humanitarian organisations to those regions.

Baroness Warsi: We condemn all military actions which target civilians, including indiscriminate aerial bombardment, and have made it clear bilaterally with the Sudanese government and through the UN Security Council that the only resolution to these conflicts is through political dialogue, not military means.
	In his visit to Sudan on 14-16 January, the Minister for Africa, my hon. Friend the Member for Boston and Skegness (Mr Simmonds), welcomed the talks between the Government of Sudan and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (North) that are due to begin in Addis Ababa on 13 February. He pressed for both parties to agree an immediate ceasefire and to allow unrestricted access for humanitarian agencies to reach all those in need.

Sudan

The Earl of Sandwich: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they have taken following the recent deaths of staff of the International Red Cross and of other non-governmental organisations working in Darfur, and with what results; and how they assess the safety of such aid workers.

Baroness Northover: The most recent death of a humanitarian worker concerns a Sudanese Red Crescent Society volunteer in South Kordofan, who was killed by a land mine. Darfur, South Kordofan and Blue Nile States are some of the most challenging and dangerous areas in which to deliver humanitarian aid due to the continuing conflict, and the significant threats posed by land mines and banditry. We continue to raise the issue of humanitarian access with the Government of Sudan who have the ultimate responsibility to ensure the safety of humanitarian workers.
	Through its contribution to the UN Common Humanitarian Fund in Sudan, the UK supports the UN Department of Safety and Security who provide security services and advice for humanitarian workers.

Transport: Taxis

Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to discourage the use of unlicensed taxi cabs.

Baroness Kramer: The Government’s principal role in relation to taxis and private hire vehicles is to ensure that the legislative framework is fit for purpose and to provide guidance to licensing authorities. On the former, we have asked the Law Commission to review the legislation and they will be reporting to us in April 2014. On the latter, we have published Best Practice Guidance for licensing authorities. The Guidance stresses the importance of enforcement in ensuring that passengers use only properly licensed taxis and private hire vehicles.

Tunisia, Israel and Palestine

Lord Hylton: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether, following the European Union Foreign Affairs Council on 20 January, and subsequent meetings, they and their European Union colleagues will (1) give priority to measures intended to increase employment in Tunisia, and (2) make representations to the government of Israel and the Palestinian Authority regarding the benefits of reaching agreements.

Baroness Warsi: The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my Rt. Hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague), agreed Conclusions on Tunisia at the Foreign Affairs Council (FAC) on 10 February. The Conclusions call on the new Tunisian government to stimulate economic growth and address unemployment. They reaffirm the EU’s support for tackling the country’s socio-economic challenges. Specific measures will include a €4.7 million micro-finance package.
	Bilaterally, the UK’s Arab Partnership (AP) also supports employment creation in Tunisia: for example through funding vocational training, and Small and Medium-sized (SME) enterprise development. The AP also helps fund job creation projects implemented by International Financial Institutions, primarily through the African Development Bank and the International Finance Corporation of the World Bank Group.
	The UK has made regular representations to the Government of Israel and the Palestinian Authority regarding the benefits of reaching an agreement, including
	to both sides, most recently, on 10 February. In this regard, work is underway in the EU on an unprecedented package of support for both parties to be given in the event of a final status deal. This ambitious offer of incentives highlights the benefits of such an agreement.

UN: Commission on the Status of Women

The Lord Bishop of Worcester: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what are their objectives for the fifty-eighth session of the Commission on the Status of Women which will take place at the United Nations in New York from 10 to 21 March.

Lord Popat: The UK’s objectives for the fifty-eighth session of the Commission on the Status of Women are to:
	i. In the run up to the 58th session, build a positive negotiation climate in relation to the priority theme and the post 2015 framework;
	ii. Enhance the UK’s reputation as an international leader on advancing the rights of women and girls;
	iii. Achieve strong agreed conclusions which will provide a solid platform for post-MDG discussions; and
	iv. Promote and showcase the UK’s initiatives to achieve gender equality.

UN: Commission on the Status of Women

The Lord Bishop of Worcester: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to consult civil society organisations, churches and faith communities ahead of the fifty-eighth session of the Commission on the Status of Women that will take place at the United Nations in New York from 10 to 21 March.

Lord Popat: Engagement with a wide range of civil society organisations is a key element of the UK’s work to prepare for the Commission on the Status of Women. To date we have:
	i. Convened a large Ministerial led consultation event with representatives of UK non-governmental organisations including faith-based organisations.
	ii. Worked with the UK NGO CSW Alliance (a diverse network of some 100 women and development organisations with an interest in women’s rights and the Commission on the Status of Women) and in particular a liaison group that they have established.
	iii. Organised a meeting with key international development organisations including those that are faith-based to draw on their expertise on the Millennium Development Goals.
	iv. Continued to issue monthly dedicated CSW e-newsletters that provide UK NGOs with regular information on the UK’s CSW plans.

United Arab Emirates

Lord Hylton: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will make representations to the government of the United Arab Emirates about the situation of Mr Jamal Hassan al-Hosni, since his arrest on 24 November 2013 in Abu Dhabi, and about that government’s intentions concerning his future career and liberty.

Lord Popat: We are not aware of the case of Mr Jamal Hassan al-Hosni. We encourage all governments to ensure that due process is carefully and transparently followed in all cases, and that civil liberties are protected. We continue to raise human rights issues with the United Arab Emirates Government.

United Nations Commission of the Status of Women

Baroness Tonge: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they intend to promote a target on universal access to sexual and reproductive health and rights within the new Millennium Development Goals framework at the 58th Session of the United Nations Commission of the Status of Women in March.

Baroness Northover: The UK supports the conclusions of the High Level Panel of Eminent Persons on the Post 2015 Development Agenda, which recognised universal access to sexual and reproductive health and rights as an essential component of a healthy society, and therefore believes sexual and reproductive health and rights should be reflected in the post-2015 framework. Our objective at the 58th Session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women is to secure Agreed Conclusions on the importance of gender equality, the empowerment of girls and women and sexual and reproductive health and rights in the post 2015 framework.

United Nations Commission of the Status of Women

Baroness Tonge: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they intend to promote a stand-alone goal on gender equality and women’s empowerment, as part of the new Millennium Development Goals framework at the 58th Session of the United Nations Commission of the Status of Women in March.

Baroness Northover: The UK has been clear in its call for a standalone goal on gender equality and girls and women’s empowerment as well as ensuring that these issues are addressed throughout the goals and targets in the framework to be agreed by the members of the United Nations. Our objective at CSW 58 is to secure agreed conclusions on the importance of gender equality, and the empowerment of girls and women in the post-2015 framework.
	We are working with others across the international community, including civil society, to ensure that this is achieved.

United Nations Commission on Population and Development

Baroness Tonge: To ask Her Majesty’s Government which Government officials will attend the April session of the United Nations Commission on Population and Development in New York.
	To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to include parliamentarians from the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Population, Development and Reproductive Health or expert non-governmental organisations in the delegation attending the April session of the United Nations Commission on Population and Development.

Baroness Northover: Officials from the AIDS and Reproductive Health team in the Department for International Development will attend the 47th Commission on Population and Development. We welcome close cooperation with civil society and are exploring the possibility of including a non-governmental representative as part of the UK delegation.

United Nations: UK Personnel

Baroness Falkner of Margravine: To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many (1) women, and (2) men, from the United Kingdom have been nominated successfully for posts as Secretary-General, Under Secretary-General or Assistant Secretary-General at the United Nations since 1984.

Lord Wallace of Saltaire: Since 1984, two women and 13 men from the United Kingdom have been appointed to Under Secretary-General or Assistant Secretary-General posts at the United Nations. Three of these candidates have held several different posts at this level. Some of these have been nominated or supported by the Government but others are individuals who have pursued their own career within the UN system. This calculation includes only those Under Secretaries-General or Assistant Secretaries-General appointed within the UN Secretariat. It does not cover British staff in the field such as those holding roles as Special Representatives and Special Envoys of the Secretary General or other ad hoc senior appointments (there are currently eight British nationals in these categories, one of whom is female). Neither the British government nor the United Nations itself maintains historical registers of such appointments. There has never been a British Secretary General; by convention the permanent five members of the UN Security Council do not put forward candidates for the role.

United Nations: UK Personnel

Baroness Falkner of Margravine: To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many (1) women, and (2) men, have held United Kingdom head of mission status at the United Nations or its agencies since 1984.

Lord Wallace of Saltaire: The number of women and men who have held Head of Mission status at the UN or its agencies since 1984 are as follows:
	UKMIS New York – Female (0)/ Male (8)UKMIS Geneva – Female (2)/ Male (7)

Vladimir Bukovsky

Lord Pearson of Rannoch: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the forthcoming 25th anniversary of the collapse of Soviet communism, what plans they have to recommend honours to Her Majesty for leading dissidents now living in the United Kingdom, and in particular Mr Vladimir Bukovsky.

Baroness Warsi: Due to the confidential nature of the UK honours process, we do not comment on or divulge details of any recommendations made in respect of honours for any particular individual.

Waterways and Rivers

Lord Patten: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord De Mauley (HL4801), when the high banks containing the rivers Parrett and Tone were last repaired or their levels raised.

Lord De Mauley: During the 1990s, as part of the ‘Bridgwater to Burrowbridge Bank Strategy’, discrete short lengths of the River Parrett banks were raised and/or widened.
	In 2001/2002 works were undertaken to pile and raise the standard of protection along a 4km length of the right bank of the River Tone (the Stanmoor Bank Scheme).
	From 2005-2010 there was another programme of ‘urgent bank raising or widening works’ along discrete short lengths of both banks of the River Parrett between the M5 flyover and Oath Lock.
	In 2005 Oath Lock Sluice on the River Parrett was replaced. In 2008/09 Newbridge Sluice on the River Tone was refurbished. These major assets control water levels and help the Environment Agency to manage flood risk in the Parrett and Tone catchments.

Waterways: Dredging

Lord Willoughby de Broke: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the provisions of the European Union Waste Framework Directive 2008/98/EC, concerning sewage and other pollution, will limit the scope of dredging operations in areas affected by recent flooding.

Lord De Mauley: The provisions of the Waste Framework Directive do not limit the scope of dredging operations in areas affected by recent flooding. However, the spreading of dredged material on land (with or without the presence of sewage) would normally require the benefit of an environmental permit to protect human health and the environment.
	Defra provides exemptions from the need for an environmental permit for a) the deposit of non-hazardous dredged material along river banks and b) the spreading of dredged material to beneficially condition agricultural land. These exemptions are subject to maximum limits on the amount of waste that can be deposited or spread and provide a light touch approach to meet Waste Framework Directive requirements. Exemptions need to be registered with the Environment Agency. Registration is free, may be done at any time and is valid for three years.

World Meteorological Organisation

Lord Hunt of Chesterton: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the current contribution paid by the United Kingdom to the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO); what proportion is used for activities on operational hydrology; and what plans they have to fund an increase in the exchange of practical information and research on operational hydrology by the WMO.

Viscount Younger of Leckie: The UK contribution to the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) in 2014 was £2.2 million. About 4.5% of the total regular WMO budget is allocated to the WMO Hydrology and Water Resources Programme (HWRP).
	Member States influence the work of the HWRP through the WMO Commission for Hydrology. The UK is one of the most active members of the Commission for Hydrology, donating the time of many experts to its work, facilitating the exchange of practical information and research on operational hydrology to the benefit of the UK.
	The WMO budget for its next financial period will be agreed in 2015, where the UK will, as always, ensure there is adequate funding for the WMO’s hydrology activities balanced against the other priorities for the UK within the WMO and affordability for members.

World Meteorological Organisation

Lord Hunt of Chesterton: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have any plans to alter the United Kingdom’s representation in operational hydrology in the World Meteorological Organisation by appointing the Chief Executive of the Environment Agency as the United Kingdom’s alternative representative, alongside the Chief Executive of the Met Office as the permanent representative.

Viscount Younger of Leckie: World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) regulations stipulate that each Permanent Representative may appoint a hydrological
	adviser who should be the representative of the respective national Hydrological Service, or equivalent national agency, and should advise the Permanent Representative with respect to WMO activities in operational hydrology and water resources.
	The UK Permanent Representative with WMO has consistently appointed the Director of the Centre of Ecology and Hydrology (CEH) (or their designate) as their hydrological adviser because as a national body the CEH also represents the UK within other UN bodies responsible for hydrology, and so provides globally recognised scientific expertise and advice for the UK’s approach to hydrological issues within the WMO. There are no plans to change this arrangement.